Phantom Sunshine
by Shining Zephyr
Summary: While on vacation in Miami, Sam and Tucker get kidnapped by Vlad, as does CSI: Ryan Wolfe. Will Danny and Horatio save them before something happens?
1. Beach Kids

**REVISIONS! Yes, I'm making this now like my typical AN format. That, and the fact that I spelled someone's name wrong for the love of... Yeah, okay. You get it. I hope.**

**Don't own CSI Miami. Don't own Danny Phantom. Don't sue, please.

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1. Beach Kids

Miami, Florida is full of beach bums and surfers every summer, and this one is no exception. All types of tourists and native civilians roamed the glistening sands of the city that really never go to sleep. Usually, the area of full of happy faces from every place known in the city. Today, it was a scorching hot ninety-one degrees outside. Storm clouds were gathering in the distance on this Tuesday morning already, but for now, the sun shone down on the ocean like no tomorrow.

A teenager stretched out on her towel, black hair, purple eyes, and wearing a black swimsuit. She wore no makeup, only a pair of thick sunglasses to shield her from the sun's brutal light. She sighed. "Of all the beaches in the U.S., we had to come to Miami, didn't we, Danny?" People were staring at her on the beach blanket, but she ignored these looks… well, some of them at least.

Her friend opened one eye, blue as the daytime sky. His black, messed-up hair seemed to perfectly complement his carefree attitude about the weather. "Well, yeah. There are some cute girls around here, Sam, and I just so happen to be getting a nice tan from lying in the sand, thank you." He nudged her side, only to receive a scowl from his best friend, and he quickly rubbed it off. It had been a while since the boy had been on vacation to beach. Or any place for that matter.

Sam Manson and Danny Fenton weren't the average every-day teenagers one found living in America these days. Both of them lived in Amity Park, Wisconsin, and they were having their first days off from fighting ghosts in their hometown. It sounds crazy, they know, but as far as they were concerned, no one could believe them, but they'd have to believe in the fatal transformation that Danny sometimes underwent.

Fenton is half a human and half a ghost. No matter how many times you are in denial, it's true. He can turn into a ghostly counterpart of himself, complete with snow white hair, fierce emerald green eyes, and a black spandex outfit that any girl could fall for. They call him the 'Ghost Boy', 'Phantom', 'Inviso-Bill,' and sometimes, even 'Halfa.' No matter what, though, his friends know him by his real name, Danny Phantom.

Not even Miami has seen a ghost yet, though, which brought multiple feelings of heartache and relief to the teenager. And besides, after living in Amity Park for a couple of years, it was nice to get out and see other places with his friends and family, especially when only a couple of weeks ago, he had ghosts cornering him in every location and the mayor labeling him as 'Public Enemy Number One.' No surprise there, coming from a seriously crazed-up fruit loop.

But we'll get to that later.

Sam got off her blanket and groaned. "I'm getting a smoothie. You up for anything right now?"

"Nah. I'll go check up on Tucker, though. He seems to be having some problems with a couple of girls." He grinned mischievously. "Go get yourself something. Make it nice."

"Smoothie," she grumbled.

* * *

In another part of Miami, Florida, a completely different atmosphere was around a house in Coral Gables. A woman with black hair leaned over a young boy, examining his body in every location. She had brown skin, matching well with her brown eyes in the process. "This is one unscientific and supernatural murder if I ever saw one, Horatio," she admitted to the man standing above her.

Horatio Caine wasn't hot in his all black suit, even if it was one of the hottest days of the summer so far. His fiery red hair seemed to play in synchronized harmony with his deep blue eyes of care. "No blood anywhere, no markings on the body from what I see. This boy couldn't have possibly just hit the floor and died in one fell swoop."

Alexx pulled back on the boy's shirt. "Not from what you _see,_ Horatio. There's a distinct distinct difference on what you can see…" She revealed an imprint of some sort on his stomach. "…and what you _don't_ see."

The lieutenant of the Miami Dade Police Department bent down to get a better look at what the Medical Examiner was pointing at. "A five-fingered imprint, red or pink."

"Looks like a burn," she speculated. "A bad burn on the stomach. No idea what could have caused it, though."

"That means one thing, Alexx.

"This case…" He slipped on his sunglasses in the living room. "…is going to be a handful."

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**WOO-HOO! Crossover! Working on the characters a little... Review please! Thanks for reading.**


	2. Shadow of Doubt

**Nothing like a bit of fun in the sun... and a stupid fruit loop...**

**Thanks for reviewing **SethTKun, StoryDreamer, Scorpii, Shadewolf7, Choco.Sushi.Nut, Sora Hane

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2 Shadow of Doubt

Sam walked back to her towel, strawberry smoothie in hand. She noted Danny watching the other teenage girls on the beach walking by and rolled her eyes. "God, Danny, are you going to keep your wandering eyes to yourself or what?"

He glanced back at her and grinned. "Depends."

"Depends on what?"

"On if Tucker can get any of the good girls."

Another boy walked towards them, seemingly depressed. He was of an African American descent, wore glasses- a seemingly tech geek in the making. And he was. Tucker Foley knew everything about every technological device known to mankind. He looked over at his best friends. "I tried to get a girl…"

"…but you couldn't find one," the ghost teen finished. "Cheer up, Tucker. You're bound to find someone."

He gave Danny a sour look. "Oh, be quiet. Just because you have a girlfriend…"

Sam sighed. "Very funny."

* * *

A brown haired man with blue eyes walked into the house, carrying a crime scene kit and camera. He noticed a blonde-haired Southern beauty already examining a table with Latex gloves. She looked up and smiled. "Decided to take this call?"

"The supernatural deaths always get me interested, Calleigh," Ryan Wolfe replied, setting down the case. "So what do we have?"

"Seven year old Michael Ivey died of a hand print on the stomach," she replied, holding up a camera and adjusting the lenses. "It's pink and somewhat large. I don't know what Alexx diagnosed it as, but I think it's… creepy."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "No signs of forced entry. All doors were apparently locked from the inside. And the mother said the only thing she heard a strange sort of 'gunshot.'" The camera flashed and clicked as he snapped everything in sight of the camera.

Her face lit up. "Strange gunshots? Be still my heart!"

"Don't get too excited about this, 'bullet girl,'" he teased gently.

* * *

There was a scream on one end of the beach as other people began to stare over in that direction. Danny was one of them. He frowned and looked back at Sam. "Do you have a towel with you?"

She grinned. "But of course," she replied. "Does Phantom wear a black jumpsuit?"

"Yeah, but in Miami, he's wearing a toga."

Sam picked up her towel and put it in front of him. "A toga, Danny?"

He grinned mischievously. The familiar white ring of light appeared around the cross-armed teen, and in his place stood a white haired male wearing a black cotton cloth wrapped around his body like a toga. He wore no gloves, only three white rings on each hand and white flip flops. His green eyes sparkled with curiosity as he looked at the girl. "Yep. A toga, Sam."

She blinked. "You decked out into a new wardrobe?"

"It's Miami," he snapped. "It's hot here all the time."

He flew up and turned invisible, allowing him not to be seen by the citizens of Miami. The half-ghost took off towards the direction of the screaming and noted the people running from where he was heading. Typical- headlong away from the danger. As he got closer to the area, a pink energy beam knocked him from the sky, despite his invisible status. He fell about three stories before hitting the ground.

"Are we spying, Daniel?"

He groaned as Vlad Plasmius smiled down on him. "Possibly. What's it to you?"

"Everything. It means anything for a half-ghost mayor to watch his nemesis try anything stupid while you're on vacation."

"Wow," Phantom retorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm, green ectoplasm in his hands. "I didn't know you actually _cared._"

"I don't."

_WHAM!_

He never saw the fist to the face coming as he sailed backwards and hit a palm tree trunk. He groaned again and glared up at him. "What did you do wrong now?"

Plasmius smirked. "Oh, nothing," he replied, flying up and into the afternoon sky.

* * *

Horatio snapped on some gloves, taking a look over the DB, which was CSI talk for dead body. "Well, Alexx?"

She looked up. "Handprint on our boy here is a burn. Definitely a burn, but not one I ever saw before. Looks to be a really odd one, too. Penetrated through all layers, caused his insides to melt."

He blinked. "Melt, Alexx?"

"It gets worse," she continued grimly. "Looked up the DNA that belongs to little Michael's attacked off the epiphylls he left on the body for touching him."

Horatio waited.

"Belongs to a _half-ghost_, Horatio."

He looked confused. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Alexx told him, sighing. "Half-ghost DNA. It said that there is an actual location where actual ghosts live and a lot of other supernatural junk." She snorted. "Half-ghost my ass. What in the world would they be talking about? _We_ should know what's going on these days anyway. We're the CSIs, and I don't even believe this supernatural stuff."

"And we won't know what happened until we solve the case, right?"

She rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

"Well, we're going to discover what is going on, Alexx." He smiled. "Besides, I'm rather intrigued by this." He frowned. "Maybe…"

Alexx looked at him. "Horatio?"

He waved his hand. "It's nothing. Just a flash of an old… _acquaintance _from college…"

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**Revised on January 25, 2007. Author's notes, I mean. I feel so stupid for doing that... But please review! Thanks for reading. Damn toga comment. Someone shoot me... -shot-**


	3. Companionship Is Terrible

**Author sin mentioned by **Twilight-Phantom66.

**Thanks for reviewing **Scorpii, Twilight-Phantom66, babydragon11, StoryDreamer, kingdomhearts222, Long Slow Collision, Lady-Bloodrose, Shelby, Little Horatio, RENT Head - A Guardian's Angel

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3. Companionship Is Terrible

Danny walked back to the beach, disgruntled and upset with himself. Sam immediately picked up on this and sighed when he sat down again. "I told you it was a bad idea. You have it in your suitcase, right?"

He gave her a sour look. "Yes, I do. We've got to get back to the room in order to fix everything."

"You don't live in Greece, dude," Tucker joked, looking up from his PDA. "Throw it away once you've got the toga off."

"Just shut up," he snapped and marched off to the room.

* * *

Horatio walked out of the Medical Examiner's office and wandered into the lounge to grab himself a cup of coffee. A ghost signature that his team had never seen in their lives? How did they figure out it was from a ghost in the first place? There was no evidence, just the simple fact that a pink handprint was on the child's stomach, and the notion of a mother claiming she heard a gun when there was no gun. Where had he heard this before?

There was a rustling from behind him as he grabbed his coffee. He looked over his shoulder and noticed a man with icy blue eyes and silverish hair staring at him rather intently. Horatio's lips curled into a smile. "Well, shine the sun in my eyes. Vlad Masters, how in the world did you get in here without a visitor's pass?"

The forty year old billionaire from Wisconsin smirked and shut the blinds around the room. "I can be very _persuasive_ when I want to, old friend," he replied, taking a seat in the chair, crossing his legs.

"So what brings you to the humidity of Miami, Florida, Vlad?" Horatio questioned, sitting down himself. He knew that the old companion was up to another kooky science experiment of sorts before he left for New York. The only question was, how kooky? And why did a nagging voice tell him not to trust Vlad? He pushed it aside as he waited for a reply from him.

Vlad cocked his head. "Oh, just some old relations and a young teen that constantly keeps my eyes open for anything unusual. You know the usual." He got up and got himself a cup of coffee. "What are you doing down here in Florida? I always thought you were a cold person."

"Times change and new possibilities arrive," Horatio told him, getting up and preparing to open up one of the curtains.

_FWOOM!_

A pink ghost ray zapped the cord to the blinds, catching the lieutenant by surprise. He whirled around and noticed Vlad succeeding in holding back a grin. Horatio frowned. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Vlad repeated innocently, although Horatio clearly knew he was lying. "I didn't see a thing."

"That pink beam," he explained, clearly confused at what just happened. His eyes narrowed. "You know what that was, don't you?"

"Not at all," the other replied mildly, getting up. "I'm simply wondering if you know where I can find a man who happens to work in this department, actually. Or should I say, very close to working in this department?"

Horatio glared at Vlad, the smile gone from his demeanor. "What are you talking about?"

Vlad cocked his head. "I do believe it is a certain man named… oh, butter nuts. Who was it? Ah, yes. Rick Stetler."

The lieutenant clenched up, teeth grinding. He raised an eyebrow. "Did I hit a nerve, Horatio?"

"No. Whatever made you ask that?" he replied, smiling dangerously. What in hell's name could Vlad want with Stetler? He was his archenemy, to say the least, and the two were often colder than ice to each other on various occasions. It didn't matter if it was over a sister in law or just the crime lab in general. They never got along. _Never._

Vlad shrugged, matching Horatio's grin. "Do you know where I can find him?"

"Internal Affairs can give you some help with that. I'm not saying which department, though. That one, old friend- you're going to have to figure out for yourself."

Vlad opened the door outside and walked out of the lounge. "I can do that for myself," he replied. "It's all in the matter of _how_ to ask someone's permission in having some help." He sauntered past the front desk and into the hallway down to the restrooms. Horatio pursed his lips. What was Vlad up to? And why didn't he like this feeling of evil that shrouded the man?

In the meantime, he'd start looking up some things on that ectoplasmic signature Alexx told him about. Maybe it would reach him closer to the killer. Or farther from the truth about Vlad.

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Vlad rushed into the restroom down the hall and looked around, smirking. All was going exactly according to plan. With Daniel utterly confused at the hotel and Horatio completely oblivious to any slight implications he had made, he was utterly invincible. He morphed into his ghostly half Plasmius yet again and smiled in the mirror. "Plasmius, you truly are a genius!" he told his mirror image with glee, turning intangible and making his way to Trace.

Staying invisible, he observed Ryan Wolfe working and cleaning up every detail in his job. 'OCD, perhaps?' he thought submissively, watching his evidence he left behind be processed. 'He'd make a fine choice to take on a little side trip and get Daniel and Horatio together. Then I can take them out at the same time…'

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**Revised January 25, 2007.**

**Damned OOCness... I really was going to hurt myself for the way I did this chappie. Reviewed are enjoyed. Thanks for reading.**


	4. Silence is Deadly

**Yes, I am back. But I've changed.**

**Thanks for reviewing** Twilight-Phantom66, WinchesterPhantom, Little Horatio

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4. Silence is Deadly

"Hey, Ryan," Calleigh noted, writing some notes down in a book. "Did you turn down the air conditioning?"

The young CSI shook his head while writing something down as well. "Nope. Did you?"

"I wouldn't be asking you if I had, would I?" she replied dryly, looking in the microscope again. She sighed. "Besides, from what I heard from Alexx and Horatio, this killer we're looking for may seem to have some sort of connection to either being a ghost or some sort of relationship to H's past."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Ghost?"

She rubbed her head and sighed. "Do you really think I want to go into specifics about that sort of thing? All I know is that some old geezer who's a billionaire tycoon and has control of practically every company in the world. And yet the one thing he wants is the Packers and some kid's mom."

'Miss Duquesne,' Plasmius thought, invisible to them in the lab, 'you don't even know the half of it.'

Ryan looked hopeful as he studied the substance under the microscope. He grinned. "I think I figured out our substance. Something called ectoplasm. Only known location of this sort of thing is in a place known as the 'Ghost Zone.'"

Calleigh furrowed her brow. "That's interesting. I wonder if..."

Both looked at each other in surprise. "Masters," they stated in unison.

* * *

Danny leaned back on the bed, flipping through channels on TV, staring at the various people discussing weather, news breaks, murders, and other various pieces of information not relative to Miami's lifestyle. Sam sat on the bed next to him, looking at him, confused. "Uh, hello? Earth to Danny. Shouldn't you be thinking about what Vlad could be up to?"

He looked back at her, turning down the volume. "I would be," he sighed, "but there are so many theories of why he could be here right now, they're all making my brain hurt. Frankly, as long as he doesn't do anything stupid or life-threatening, I'm not going to worry."

Sam shook her head. "You've got to have _some _idea of what he's doing."

He lay back, staring at the ceiling. "I've got one, yeah."

The phone rang to the room. Sam frowned and picked it up. "Hello?" Her brow furrowed even deeper as she took the phone off her ear and handed it to Danny. "It's for you."

He blinked and took it. "Hello?"

_"Ah, Daniel,"_ a familiar sinister voice smirked over the phone. _"It appears you can't avoid me over the phone or even in Miami-Dade county."_

Danny clenched up. "Plasmius. What do you want?"

_"A favor. I want you to come down to the Miami-Dade Crime Lab with those two friends of yours. There's something I want you to see."_

The boy's eyes narrowed. "What's the catch?"

_Click._

He stared down at the receiver and glanced at Sam and Tucker, who now sat on the bed. "Put on your flip-flops or something. We have to go to the Miami-Dade Crime Lab for some reason. Vlad won't say why."

Tucker's jaw dropped. "Dude, you're going to listen to that fruit loop?!"

* * *

"Horatio."

The lieutenant turned around to find a brown-haired, green-eyes male standing behind him, smiling rather smugly. He seemed to have the presence of the billionaire himself, but Horatio knew it was in a completely different sense. He leveled his gaze calmly towards the newcomer, despite some sparks seemingly shooting in his direction. "Sergeant Stetler. Mind me asking what you are doing in my lab?"

Sergeant Rick Stetler raised an eyebrow to the redhead. "I see someone has had an encounter today they don't wish to blabber on about. Am I correct, Horatio?"

"Understand, _Rick,_ that you are in my lab for no apparent reason," he told him. "I can throw you out of here for no apparent reason. It works both ways."

"I heard that Vlad Masters is somewhere in the building," Stetler offered to a tight-lipped Horatio. "Figured I'd drop by and wonder where he is."

The lieutenant cocked his head. "Any particular reason?"

A scream erupted from inside the DNA Lab. Horatio's gun was in his hand before he subconsciously understood what was going on as he moved to the hallway with other thoughts racing through his head. He looked in and opened the door to see a frightened and upset Calleigh pointing her gun at a caped figure holding Ryan Wolfe's hand and floating above them all. Ryan appeared to be unconscious.

Horatio pointed his gun at the caped male. "Care to put down the CSI?" he asked politely, a flame of hate in his eyes.

"Ah, so I did pick up the right one!" the floating figure cried with delight. "If I may be so sure as to prod, Lieutenant Caine, is this Ryan Wolfe?"

Calleigh's finger trembled on the trigger. "Put him down!"

The figure sent a strange pink beam down at the woman. The gun shot out of her hand and onto the tile. She gasped and stared at him. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Is that any way to ask a ghost to do such a thing?"

_Ghost?_ Horatio's hand began trembling as well. "How about a first name?"

"Plasmius. Vlad Plasmius, if you must ask," he replied lazily, shooting a wave of electricity through Ryan, making sure he would stay unconscious. "Oh, and Horatio..." He sent another ghost ray towards the male, who leapt out of the way. "If you happen to find a Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley, tell them to stay here. They might be useful in negotiating Mr. Wolfe's release."

Horatio glared at Plasmius. "I know you."

"I don't," the half-ghost replied mildly, turning intangible and flying through the roof.

Calleigh looked at Horatio. "We've got to free Ryan."

He pursed his lips. "I understand that, Miss Duquesne. However, we have more important matters. First, let's find out who these kids are. Maybe we can get somewhere with that."

"Right," she replied and ran out.

Horatio frowned. Was Stetler supposed to be a distraction for this Plasmius guy to take Ryan, or was there something more evil at work? Either way, he wanted to get his CSI and the murderer.

He'd start with Vlad Plasmius.

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**Ooooof. That took some serious thinking.**

Yeah. I can imagine. Sorry for the lack of updates. Reviews are appreciated. Let's get to 25! Thanks for reading!


	5. One Seriously Crazed Up Fruit Loop

**Yeah, uh, now we are getting into the good stuff here. **

**Thanks for reviewing **Hordak's Pupil

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5. One Seriously Crazed Up Fruit Loop

Tucker looked at the Miami-Dade Crime Lab building in awe. "This has got to be one of the coolest places here besides the beach," he mumbled aloud. "How much technology do you think they've got in here?"

Danny crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing to slits. "I don't know, Tuck. Something doesn't feel right about this. Why would Plasmius want to meet us here?" He morphed, a snowy-haired teenager with emerald green eyes standing in his place yet again. "Why did I even listen to him and come to this place?"

Sam looked at Danny. "Come on," she told him. "If anything goes wrong, you can fight him, kick his butt, and we can bolt back to the hotel while you keep him occupied."

"Oh, but I'm afraid that isn't going to work, Samantha."

Phantom glared at the skies. Plasmius was holding a young man by the arm, in which he shifted to his waist. "For you see, I was hoping you would be able to give me a little bit of help in a small... a small favor of mine. All it involves is Samantha and Tucker, and I'll let the officer go."

Phantom blinked. 'Officer? As in...?'

It happened in an instant. His hands glowed with energy, a furious glint in his eyes. "Kidnapping police officers, Plasmius? God, that's low- even for you!"

His foe laughed, the sound ringing through the parking lot as people screamed and ran in opposite directions. "Oh, I'm not kidnapping people, Daniel. I'm simply taking others away from what they love doing and getting them to secretly work for my own purposes. You know it's how I am and always will be. Can't you accept that?"

The ghost ray was fired, hitting Plasmius' hand and helping knock free Ryan Wolfe, who went falling for the Earth. Phantom leapt into action, flying and catching the still unconscious CSI, laying him on the pavement. He proceeded by firing another ghost ray at the billionaire half ghost and missing, the blast hitting the building and leaving a small dent. Phantom got into an aerial battle stance. "Going to fight me, Vlad?"

Sam looked at Ryan and rushed over to him, Tucker in hot pursuit. She knelt down next to him and felt around his body. "He's alive," she told Tucker.

He blinked. "How do you know?"

"I watch crime dramas all the time. This is what they always do in the shows."

"Oh."

Plasmius looked down at Sam, Tucker, and Ryan, who began to stir. He glared back at the teenager, hatred in his gaze. "Am I going to fight you, Daniel? Naturally."

Phantom smiled. "I thought so."

* * *

Horatio didn't know what was crazier- watching Calleigh Duquesne, his ballistics expert in firearms going... well, _ballistic,_ or running into the parking lot and seeing a Gothic girl with black hair and makeup alongside an African American with a red beanie leaning over his CSI. Neither of them seemed to be trying to hurt him. Actually, they were talking to him, their faces understanding and confused. He ran over to Ryan, who rubbed his head in confusion. "Mr. Wolfe. What happened?"

He shrugged helplessly. "I really have no idea, H. I was busy processing the ectoplasm in the lab and the next thing I know..."

"Wait a second," the girl interrupted, looking at Ryan confusedly. "Did you just say ectoplasm?"

Horatio turned his gaze onto her. She looked to be no more than fifteen, if not sixteen, years old. Dressed in a skirt and a short top, Horatio surmised she could have been a new resident or something along those lines. "Ma'am, do you know what we're talking about?"

She looked at the lieutenant, wincing as she heard a boy scream. "I know about ectoplasm, if that's what you're talking about."

He nodded. "What's your name?"

She blinked. "Sam. Sam Manson. Why?"

Horatio looked at the other boy. "And you?"

"Tucker Foley. We think we might have some idea about this pink handprint that Ryan told us about," he explained to Horatio.

He cocked his head, his gun now away and fingering a pair of sunglasses. "All right. I'm listening."

Before Tucker could open his mouth, another scream erupted from the skies as Plasmius punched a snow-haired teenager in a black jumpsuit in the stomach. "Daniel, this is pathetic," he chuckled as he watched the teenager double over in agony. "When I thought you were going to fight me, I thought this would be much more of a challenge! Not some run-around-the-parking-lot sort of thing."

The male's eyes flashed a bright green- or Daniel. Daniel... Horatio furrowed his brow. He remembered something about a Danny Fenton in the release of Ryan. The teenager spoke, his voice dripping with venom. "More of a challenge, Vlad? You want a challenge?"

He took a deep breath.

Never in Horatio Caine's life had he seen a teenaged... _thing_ be so equally matched to the male half-ghost, who had lost his swagger and was furiously trying to attack the rampaging child. Ice-cold beams were shot out from his hands, hitting Plasmius with almost everything he had. Unfortunately, the sun was a factor in the melting of the ice, and soon enough, it seemed as if he could have been using water instead of ice to attack him. Plasmius began to attack as well, a fierce fight ensuing between the ghost and Plasmius. He pulled out a gun, Sam looking at him incredulously. "You can't shoot them!"

"One of them tried to kidnap my CSI," he told her flatly. "He's going to be taken in for questioning."

As if on cue, a Hispanic male rushed out of the lab, gun pulled out as well and watching the battle in the sky unfold. He glanced at the lieutenant, dazed by the scuffle. "H, who are these guys?"

He turned around and nodded to Tucker and Sam. "Eric, this is Sam Manson and Tucker Foley. Kids, this is Eric Delko, one of the CSIs here."

"NO!" Plasmius suddenly screamed, firing a ghost ray at the group. They scattered, and Plasmius swooped down and picked up Ryan again... and Sam.

She began to struggle. "Let go of me, you creep!"

He sighed and let an electric shock surge through her body. She screamed for a few minutes, as did Ryan... only until they were both knocked out from the strength of the shock. Tucker's eyes widened. "Sam!"

Plasmius looked below the bodies and grinned. "You're next."

"Put them down!" Phantom bellowed, charging another blast up. "Put them down right now!"

His foe raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to shoot that at me? Because if you hit me, you hit Samantha." He laughed. "And I sincerely doubt you would like to hit the love of your life."

He stopped and lowered his hands, flaring up. "What are you up to?!"

"Oh, nothing!" he smirked. "Although..." He swooped down and grabbed Tucker by the hand, sending a shock through the teen and wincing. "My, this weight is a bit much."

"LET GO OF THEM!" Phantom screamed.

Horatio fired a shot at Plasmius, who barely dodged out of the way in time. "I'll deal with you later, Horatio!" he shouted gleefully, flying off into the distance.

Phantom clenched up and landed on the sidewalk, shaking. Horatio kept his gun leveled at him. "You're against him, aren't you?" He motioned to Eric, who shook himself out of his daze. "Eric, help him inside. He's hurt."

"I'm fine!" the teenager insisted, twitching visibly.

Horatio shook his head. "I'm not going to have an enemy of Vlad Plasmius going out to look for him after what I've just witnessed, Mr...?"

He sighed resignedly. "Phantom. Danny Phantom. All right, I'll go with you guys."

Eric glanced at his boss, who stood staring into the skies. "What's on your mind?" he asked as he led Phantom inside.

"Vlad Plasmius and Vlad Masters, Eric," he muttered, looking at the clouds drift by and begin to block out the sun. "Could they be... one?"

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**Another update. Yay! Could I get just a few reviews? Please? Tell me how the story is going- what you like, what you don't, anything! Thanks for reading and much love, friends.**


	6. Both Helpful and Hurtful

**Well, I got someone who wants to know why Danny's giving in so easily. Fear not. All is explained, and Horatio Caine is going to definitely bring out his fatherly, yet commanding, self.**

**Dearest thanks for reviewing ****to** Plushiemon, princess moon shadow, Hordak's Pupil, Shadewolf7

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6. Both Helpful and Hurtful

He glared out the window, floating in the interrogation room as many pairs of wandering eyes drifted in his direction. He wasn't a museum project that was supposed to be on display in a few days, so why were people pointing at him? And why wasn't he looking for Sam and Tucker? He could have phased his way out of the room right now, but no! There was something in that officer's eyes that made him stay in the room as he glared back at the people looking at him.

The door opened, and Phantom turned around. The redheaded cop who had told him to go inside and wait for him entered the room and nodded to the Hispanic next to him. "Eric. I need to do this one alone."

The one called Eric nodded and left the room. He shut all the blinds to the windows and stood across the table from Phantom, who was floating above the table. "So I take it that the vampire is not your ally," he stated.

Phantom shook his head with a start. "What?" Questions were tumbling out of his mouth faster than he could control his brain process. "Who are you? What am I doing here? Why do you know something about me? I have to go save them!"

The redhead waited patiently for this outburst to finish and fingered his sunglasses. "For starters, my name is Lieutenant Horatio Caine, and I'm the leader of the Miami Crime Scene Investigators. What you're doing here, my friend, is recovering from what appear to be severe battle wounds from that aerial attack I saw you in. And I know something about you, because your friends that were kidnapped told me something about you. And no, you are in no shape to save them."

Phantom glared at him and winced, floating down to the ground and crossing his arms to cover a scratch on his left arm. "You don't think I'm in any shape to save them? What exactly would you know about saving people, Lieutenant?"

"A lot more than you, Mr. Phantom."

He blinked. His tone was kind, and yet it wasn't. There was some sort of wearied quality in his voice that he couldn't quite place his finger on. And the eyes... the eyes seemed to bore into him as if he was inspecting some sort of ghost on a dissection table. Phantom was confused. "What?"

Horatio looked at him steadily, his head tilted. "I know what it's like to have the ones I love and work with die alongside me in the face of evil. I know what it's like to hold a dying person's hand when they are taking their last breath of life. I know what it is like to kill someone and go after them with a lust for revenge. I know what Death looks like, Mr. Phantom. But I'm not quite sure if you do."

His voice... he sounded almost in depressed agony. Phantom seemed to almost wallow in a bubble, but that quickly faded away as he got fired up again. "Well, I bet you wouldn't know a thing about ghosts, would you?"

"No," the leader replied simply. "No I wouldn't."

This was really getting the young hybrid upset. "So, how is this all applying to me? Why am I still in here? I can disappear, you know!"

Horatio looked down. "I know, Danny. I know you can."

"See? See, that is what I... wait a second." He suddenly sank into a chair, worried and confused yet again. "Danny? Hold on a sec. You know who I am?"

"Yes."

Phantom began to back away. "How? I don't understand. How can you know me?! You've got nothing against me that says you know my name! A..." He paused, remembering his conversation moments before.

_...Flashback..._

_Horatio shook his head. "I'm not going to have an enemy of Vlad Plasmius going out to look for him after what I've just witnessed, Mr...?"_

_He sighed resignedly. "Phantom. Danny Phantom. All right, I'll go with you guys."_

_...Flash forward..._

Phantom kicked himself mentally. How could he be so stupid as to blurt out his name to this guy? He looked at Horatio, his emerald eyes narrowing. "What do you know about me?"

"Your name," he told him. "And if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you some questions."

He put up a hand. "Wait a second. You won't tell anyone?"

Horatio smiled softly, almost fatherly. "What happens between my victims and I stays that way. You can trust me with your life."

"Good thing." He took a deep breath.

What Horatio saw the next moment shocked him like no crime scene he had ever seen before. Two white rings of light split down the teenager, and in the white-haired, emerald-eyed male's place stood a different person- one with raven hair, sky blue eyes, jeans and a t-shirt. He looked calm at the transformation that had occurred as he tentatively sat down in his chair and looked up at the lieutenant. Horatio's eyes widened with disbelief at the boy in front of him. "What was that?"

He laughed nervously. "Eh heh-heh. Um, I'm kind of a half human, half ghost sort of thing. And from where I come from, ghosts aren't exactly treated with open arms of love." He looked very uncomfortable after this, shifting in his chair unnervingly.

"What's your name?"

He smiled a small grin. "The name's Danny Fenton. But call me Danny."

Horatio nodded. "Danny, I can see that you are a teenager with powers unknown to anyone whom I've ever known. I must ask you- could you help us in a murder investigation involving a young child and the location of my CSI: Ryan Wolfe?"

The boy blinked. "Was that the other guy Plasmius took?"

He sighed. "Yes, and it might be in your best interests to lend us your expertise in this. We have a piece of evidence that could be recognized by your ghostly intellect that could connect everything back to this Plasmius character."

The door opened, and a brown haired, forest green eyed male looked into the room. "You're supposed to be working on the Michael Zelman case, Horatio," he told him, looking agitated. "Already interviewing a suspect, and you have no evidence!"

Danny blinked. "What?"

Horatio flashed the man a dangerous look. "Pardon me, Rick. I was interviewing a possible source for the case. When did Internal Affairs decide to get involved?"

Stetler rolled his eyes. "Well, obviously when a missing CSI: is involved, we have to make sure he gets out of his situation alive."

"I'll meet you in the office," the redhead told the man coolly.

Fuming, the Internal Affairs agent shut the door behind him. Horatio sighed. Danny raised an eyebrow. "Who was that guy?"

"His name is Rick Stetler," Horatio told him wearily. "I'll tell you more about him later. But for now, would you like to see the lab?"

Danny nodded. "Would I ever."

The look in Horatio's eyes of joy and relief lifted Danny's heart as he got up from his chair and exited the room. If he was going to help him get back Sam and Tucker, then he really could trust him with his life.

* * *

**So, now we get to see Danny meet the rest of the crime lab... and Stetler. -sours over- I can't stand Rick Stetler, and many of you will see why in the next couple of chapters. Please review. I really want to know how well this chapter went. Thanks for reading!**


	7. The Sweet Spots

**Onward!**

**Much love and adoration for reviewing to **NC Phantom, Hordak's Pupil, Plushiemon, Em Phantom, Pterodactyl, princess moon shadow, Shadewolf7, Quacked Lurker, mystery writer5775, Jodine16, CSIBeauty, Shade rose

* * *

7. The Sweet Spots

Danny walked down the hallway of the lab, taking in the sights and sounds of the technicians working away furiously. Horatio was leading him to what seemed to be some sort of locker room. He was fingering a pair of sunglasses as he opened the door, allowing Danny to go first. Stacked on top of one another were piles and piles of boxes with labels. Danny glanced around. "Where are we, exactly?"

"Danny, this is the evidence locker," Horatio told him, nodding in towards the aisle. "We keep everything from previous cases stored in this location. If we're going to find Mr. Wolfe and your friends, I think we should begin in here."

Danny looked utterly bemused. "Why?"

"Evidence from an unsolved case could prove useful to tie us to Plasmius. Perhaps he left a bit of himself behind in a case from a long time ago." He examined the hybrid from head to toe slowly, looking for any sign of understanding. "DNA, a fingerprint, saliva from a drinking glass, anything at all."

Still not fully getting it, he shrugged nonchalantly and began to take a look around. When he got to the end of a row, he noticed a woman with wavy brown hair and quite the tan to match. She wore a blue silk top and khaki pants, pushing her fingers through her hair. Soft brown eyes glanced up from her paperwork, noticing Danny. "If you're looking for Horatio, I don't know where he is. I'm looking for him, too."

Danny was surprised by her Americanized tone despite looking almost Mexi-Cuban. "I know where he is. Who are you?"

She smiled slightly. "Natalia Boa Vista, CSI. Are you a visitor?"

"Yeah. Just taking a look around."

Natalia looked back at the papers. "Could you tell me where H is, please? I've got some data for him I need to... you know."

Horatio walked out from a center aisle, glancing over at the duo standing at the end of the row. He smiled. "Bumping into team members left and right, I see." He turned to Natalia. "The ectoplasm found at the scene."

"It's an unknown _and _a known match," she replied, looking as confused as Danny did walking into the evidence locker. "One comes from a national hit in Colorado and the other seems to be linked to Miami."

Danny blinked. " Colorado?"

Both the CSIs turned to Danny expectantly. Natalia frowned, rereading the location. "Yeah. A remote location somewhere in the Rockies- some guy owns a cabin up there by the name of Masters. I thought it was a glitch in the database- I guess I was wrong. Do you know him?"

Horatio narrowed his eyes. A cabin in the Rockies? That sounded suspicious...

* * *

Ryan Wolfe groaned, opening his eyes blearily. He was in a pink, ectoplasmic bubble, away from his new fellow companions. Sitting up as best as he could, the CSI looked at his surroundings- log cabins walls, picture of the ghost kid he saw in Miami, various holding chambers, and animal skins. "This is nuts. I'm in a pink bubble."

"I think it's called human guinea pig."

Sam was gripping the bars of her cage, brooding as she reached for the bubble. "I'm Sam Manson, and the one in the other cage..." She pointed to Tucker across the hall. "...is Tucker Foley."

Ryan nodded, his hands against the bubble. "H was talking to guys before we got kidnapped. I saw pure black and now we end up here. Mind telling me why we're all in this position?"

She sighed. "I think we're being held as hostages until Danny can get here. Or if another person can do wonders and make a beeline for hitting a switch to open the gates, then..." She glanced over at Tucker, who sat there, staring at the brown walls. "You okay, Tucker?"

He shook his head. "He took it away from me! Vlad took away my PDA from me! So that means I can't override any systems to get us free or something! That slimy billionaire is probably screwing around with it as we speak!"

Ryan sat down in the bubble. "Who's Danny? A friend of yours, or that ghost kid I saw in the parking lot?"

Sam glanced at him, flustered. "Yep, that's Danny Phantom, all right. Have you ever heard of him?"

"He soon will."

Plasmius appeared out of thin air, smiling and holding Tucker's PDA. "You know what the greatest thing is about technology? It obeys you with every command you give it. And let me tell you something, Mr. Wolfe- Danny Phantom and Horatio Caine are going to be both your Lucifer and your Gabriel."

Ryan's lips tightened. The way the new figure had said it made it sound deadly... and that was not a word Ryan liked to use at all. "Why are you?"

"I'm known as Vlad Plasmius, or the Wisconsin Ghost, or anything else that you can come up with that sounds much more majestic." He smirked. "Although in the human world, people refer to me as something much more respectable."

Sam snorted. "Respectable?"

Plasmius flashed a nasty look before poking Ryan's bubble. A sound of ghosts wails and super naturalistic creatures seemingly howling inside the bubble grated the man's ears. He clutched his head and began howling in agony as Plasmius watched him with a lazy stare. Sighing after a few moments, he finally placed his hand on the bubble, and the noises stopped. Ryan stared at his new foe, eyes widening in disbelief. "What the hell was that?!"

"That is the Human Hybrid Bubble, Ryan," he replied calmly. "Given that you are the youngest male CSI, and Miss Boa Vista is much too inexperienced for what is going to possibly become of you and not her, I have decided that you are going to become my next project and attract my beloved heroes to my cabin in Colorado. Turning you into a half ghost by unknown- and possibly deadly- means will give me a chance at them after so long!"

Sam looked sick at this as Tucker tried to reach for his PDA through the bars. "You're a bastard."

Plasmius shrugged. "Whatever." He smacked Tucker's hand against the rails and heard a crack, which he found exceedingly gratifying. Unfortunately for Tucker, this wasn't the case as he clutched his left hand and screamed. "Now you two are going to help me blackmail Horatio and Daniel to make sure they witness Ryan's- and possibly your-demise. Or else."

Ryan glared at Vlad. _"My_ demise? You're a ghost! Ghosts can't exactly kill people!"

"I prefer the term hybrid, Mr. Wolfe," he replied lazily. "It sounds more... _majestic_ to me."

And with that, he disappeared.

* * *

**Man, I hope I'm not being too much of a ding-donged idiot to do this chapter like so! And yes, Tucker got his hand broke... but don't worry. The revenge is coming soon enough! Reviews are loved! Thanks for reading!**


	8. Dangerous Men

**Nothing like a nice Danny Phantom crossover to feed your soul, huh? I understand that came out wrong, but what am I going to do? I really need to thank you guys for helping me keep this alive! I'm Shining Zephyr's muse. Call me Zephyr. Real original, I know, but that's another on of life's mysteries.**

**Thanks for reviewing, **Hordak's Pupil, Plushiemon, mystery writer5775, princess moon shadow, fairyprincesst, Miriam, Miriam1, Little Horatio, pearl84, yumi2482, CSIBeauty

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8. Dangerous Men

Danny rubbed his head in the café as he ate his sandwich little by little. Natalia had offered to take him to lunch, and Danny accepted. Besides, Horatio's aura seemed to be a little... intimidating? There was something about the leader of the lab that kind of worried Danny. He seemed... he couldn't really come up with a word for it as he glanced out the window. Natalia smiled slightly. "You miss them."

Jerked out of his gaze, he glanced back at the female CSI: and blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Your friends," Natalia explained. "Sam and Tucker, I think?"

Danny nodded, taking another bite. He felt obligated to eat in front of the woman, whose sad eyes seemed to drill a hole in the boy.

"Who was that guy that kidnapped them and Ryan?"

Danny's head rested on the palm of his hand, sighing. "He's been following me around for a long time. I'd say maybe two years." His brow furrowed. "Yeah, two years now. Since I was fourteen, the guy has been obsessed with me and my family. I'll just say he's probably worse than some of the guys you've had to capture and put in jail."

Natalia smiled. "Maybe. But we're going to find them with you. He's taken a dear friend of mine as well. Ryan Wolfe is one of my best friends in the lab now. I'm worried about him, actually."

"You never worried about him in the past?"

She shrugged. "Not really. He's was... he was kind of a bitch to me in my early days, for lack of a better word. I had some slight problems going on in the lab involving a person from my past, and it kind of screwed me up for later references. But we're good friends now after what happened to him last year."

The teen raised an eyebrow. "Explain."

"He was fired from his job because of some gambling issues." She took a bite of her sandwich. "But I helped him do some paperwork so he would be rehired. He was... after around five months of being processed and examined by an old foe of H's."

"An old foe?" Danny inquired.

Natalia gave the boy a dry smile. "That man you might've seen around the hallway- he's got brown hair, forest green eyes, walks around with his hands jammed into his pockets. That's Horatio's long time nemesis, Rick Stetler, Internal Affairs agent. Biggest pain in the ass I've ever met in my life."

Danny sat at the table, contemplating what she had just said. It was that same male who had confronted Horatio about a case involving a boy. He didn't see how they could've been mortal enemies like himself and Vlad, but he could tell that there was some serious tension arising between the two. Maybe they could all go have a therapy session or something, given that they had similar problems with one another.

* * *

He sat in the office, shaking his head and taking out his cell phone. Dialing in a number, he wanted for a few moments until a smooth voice answered,_"Plasmius."_

"Do you realize you're the talk of the lab?!" Rick Stetler hissed, annoyance and fear clearly evident in his voice. "Why can't you be more subtle? Christ, you didn't have to make a big show when you kidnapped Wolfe!"

The half ghost sounded amused. _"I didn't make a big show, Rick. That was Danny Phantom who decided to fight me and delay my efforts in blackmailing Horatio and Daniel. Be glad I did make that show."_

Stetler ran his fingers through his hair. This wasn't working out for him. He cut this deal with Vlad Plasmius for one reason- to get back at Horatio in a way beyond his wildest dreams. Well, it certainly was a way to get back at the lieutenant, but he never thought it involved taking a CSI: hostage. "What do you plan on doing with him?"

_"Nothing much, really. I took young Daniel's friends as bait for the boy and his friend."_

Stetler didn't mistake the malice in the half ghost's tone. "What did you do with him?"

Plasmius sounded irritatingly tired on the other end of the line. _"How typical. You're turning into Horatio. All right, if you must know, I plan on taking Ryan and using him to become a half ghost like me. And if you're lucky, I won't kill him."_

**_'If you're lucky?'_** Stetler sagged in his chair, recognizing the fact that he was probably growing more gray hair with this lone conversation than anything he had done with Horatio. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The male laughed cruelly over the other end of the phone. _"Come on, Stetler. Don't tell me you're growing a backbone to all of this."_

"Possibly."

Plasmius sighed. _"Right then. I need you to go and tell Horatio about the little plan that could happen if everything goes according to plan, and he and Daniel might see their friends again."_

_CLICK._

Stetler stared at the phone. Not even so much as a good-bye. He got up from his desk and wiped his brow, sighing and making his way to the parking lot. This had to be one of the scariest things he had yet to do that involved Horatio and, possibly, his wrath.

* * *

The Columbian could see the anger in his eyes when the doors of the elevator opened and in walked her former boyfriend. It had been around a few minutes since Danny had come back to the lab with Natalia, and he wanted to see what all the tension was about. He glanced at the elevator as well, watching the Internal Affairs Sergeant walk into the Crime Lab, a harried look on his face. "Who's he?"

He held out his hand moments later. "Rick Stetler, Internal Affairs. You must be Danny Fenton."

Danny shook it uneasily. Something seemed wrong with this situation.

The Columbian woman put her hand on his shoulder. Her voice sounded soft, worried. "I think it would be a good time for us to leave."

He nodded fervently, and the duo walked off, leaving an anger-ridden Horatio with a nervous looking Stetler. "I'm not here to be an ass to you, Horatio."

"Then hurry it up, Stetler. I've got a case to work on."

Stetler winced at the sharp edge in Horatio's voice. "Someone wants to see you in the Crime Lab tomorrow. He won't give me his name, but he says it's urgent."

Horatio nodded. "Plasmius."

The agent tried to hide the look of surprise on his face. "You know him?"

The lieutenant snorted. "We go back a little ways. Farther than you and me."

"Farther than us?" He chuckled. "That's a ways."

Horatio tensed up. "I know who he is, Rick. So don't make it a big secret. All I had to do was cross reference the ectoplasm found at the scene, match that with international databases, and find a match. Your so-called employer, Vlad Plasmius, is, in fact, Vlad Masters."

Stetler practically choked up at this. "How do you know about...?"

"I'm a CSI, Rick," he told him flatly, fingering his sunglasses. "That's my job."

* * *

**Ha-ha! Horatio knows about Vlad Plasmius and Vlad Masters! There's that secret out of the bag. Despite the fact that Danny and Stetler's meeting was kind of short, you'll get to meet a new person next chapter and learn more about the bitterness between Stetler and H. Thanks for reading! Reviews are enjoyed!**


	9. History Lesson

**-yawns- Sorry I'm tired, guys. There's been an emotionally draining piece I have been working on called "The Guardian's Song," which is now finished. I can now get booking on this one. -is stabbed- This is why I am a muse called Zephyr. In the author's notes. With no purpose but to write the best I can of this chapter. **

**Slight spoilers for CSI: ****Miami****: S3, E7- Crime Wave. **

**Thanks for those reviews **mystery writer5775, yumi2482, Plushiemon, Hordak's Pupil, princess moon shadow, Miriam1, Thunderstorm101

* * *

9. History Lesson 

Danny crossed his arms, watching Stetler and Horatio from afar. The Columbian sighed and pushed a lock of her hair out of her face. "Honestly, I don't know whether it's me or the fact that his job is the cause of their bad blood," she grumbled to herself, car keys in her hand. "They had just better work it out for my sake before I bash their heads together."

He scratched his head. "What do you mean?"

She held out her hand, and Danny shook it. "Yelina Salas, private investigator for the Crime Lab. I've been working undercover sometimes to try and get some information relating to Horatio's cases."

"Okay, I get that. I'm just wondering something- how the heck do they both know you? They stared at you as if you were some kind of model or something."

Yelina chuckled dryly, walking with Danny towards Horatio's Hummer. "A model, Danny? That's funny. I'm not exactly what you'd call a 'model.' More along the lines of 'the light of both their lives."

Danny was confused.

She gestured for him to get in the vehicle. Once inside, she put the keys in the ignition but made no move to turn on the car. She sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "Rick Stetler and Horatio Caine go very far back as enemies. No one can give a known time frame, but they recognize that they hate each other's guts with a passion. It started quite a while back, before Horatio got his job.

"Rick and Horatio were taking the entrance exam for the Miami-Dade Police Department a number of years ago, trying to get a spot for being lieutenant. The exam takes approximately five hours- and when it's humid inside the room where you're taking a test, things can get… heated. Well, time passed, papers were handed in, and Horatio was called out of the room halfway through his exam. Rick handed his test in minutes after he left, and he left for home."

Danny opened the door slightly. It was hot in the car…

"Well, weeks went by, and results came back. Guess who got the position?"

Danny cocked his head. "I'm going to take a wild stab at it and say Horatio."

Yelina nodded. "But someone wasn't happy."

"Stetler. How come?"

The Columbian leaned back in the seat. "Apparently, Rick scored better on the exam than Horatio did, and he got a higher score when being interviewed. He thinks Horatio pulled a favor for the Chief and snagged the promotion right under his nose."

Danny pulled one leg up onto the seat. Stetler and Horatio were enemies over an exam? That definitely had to be one of the more stupid things he had ever heard of. But he had to ask something else: "Any other reason besides a piece of paper and a promotion?"

Yelina didn't answer for a few minutes. Finally, she looked at Danny, utmost seriousness in her eyes. "Promise me you won't tell anyone what I'm going to tell you."

He blinked. "Sure."

"No, Danny, I mean _no one._ Not even Horatio."

The teenager was taken aback by the force in Yelina's voice. She sounded… scared, almost. And angry. He nodded again. "I wouldn't tell anyone."

She looked around slightly, despite being inside the humid-filled vehicle. Finally, she glanced at Danny, her voice no higher than a whisper.

"Stetler and I were a couple for a while. I'd say some time in 2004. For a year, I went out with that pain in my side and we were happy for… probably two months. Four months is being very generous. Anyways, one night I made him upset beyond anything, and he…" She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "Well, he hit me."

Danny's eyes widened in horror. "He _hit_ you?"

Yelina nodded grimly. "Yes. He hit me in the eye. I showed up to work a few days later, and, well… Horatio noticed, to say the least."

"Oh, boy."

"He went into overprotective brother-in-law mode with me and asked me how I got it. Well, I lied to him for the sake of him not going after Stetler. But he asked me where he was, and, well, I didn't know. I couldn't exactly think clearly. No one could. A tsunami was headed for our city in a matter of six hours. Horatio was trying to solve a case that involved the murder of an ex-con and a grocer. Everything pretty much boiled down to Horatio and Eric Delko stopping a robbery only seconds before the tsunami hit.

"Around two hours after everything was done, Horatio was examining the crime scene at the bank, and Rick shows up. Sure, he and Delko had shot two bank robbers, so Internal Affairs had to be there. Representative Stetler was chosen, and he and Horatio… kind of had an argument."

Danny snickered slightly. "Kind of?"

"Horatio pretty much told Rick that if he ever touched me again, he was going to beat him 'til he dropped dead."

"But he had no evidence that Stetler actually hit you," Danny asked, wiping his face. The temperature was now dropping, the sun setting behind the building. It was only 4:30, but the humidity remained.

Yelina nodded. "He continued to hit me after that, but in less seen spots of my body."

Danny clenched his fist. "And that's why they hate each other? Because Horatio found out you were being abused by the one who he snagged the promotion from?"

"Something like that."

The teenager sat there, contemplating between the thoughts of Horatio and Stetler and Yelina. There was so much between the three that no one probably even knew about. Then again, he was one for keeping secrets as well. He had only really told Horatio about his ghost powers, and he felt a little guilty for not telling Natalia. Granted, he hardly knew her, but she was an open ear to everything he had said.

He sat up from his chair. "What're Stetler and Horatio doing right now?"

Yelina shrugged. "I really don't know. Probably bashing each other about me."

Danny stretched. "Is it always this hot here in Florida?"

She laughed slightly. "Yes and no."

There was a loud crash heard outside. Danny got out of the Hummer and stared at the crime lab. Something was definitely up inside the building. He looked around and saw Yelina getting out of the car, gun drawn. 'Damn,' he thought angrily. 'I can't morph unless I duck into a bush or something.'

Yelina glanced around. There was no sign of the teen anywhere. "Danny? Wherever you are, _stay there._" She made her way to the building, pushing the door open and disappearing inside.

Danny sighed with relief. "That seemed a bit too easy, for her to leave so conveniently. But I'll take anything right about now." Two white rings of light split down his waist, and the white-haired ghost wonder appeared. His emerald eyes wandered to the floor of the crime lab. "Well, here goes," he mumbled, flying up and fazing through the wall. He landed inside the DNA Lab and stayed invisible, making his way to the source of the crash.

The hybrid suddenly felt a familiar beam of energy slam into his chest. He fazed through the wall again, going out of the building and becoming visible.

"Well, Daniel. Spying on us, are we?"

Phantom knew that voice. He closed his eyes and smiled. "Plasmius…"

* * *

**Eh, I'm kind of happy with how I explained the whole thing between Stetler and H. And yes- another fight between Danny and Plasmius is coming! I'm getting to two chapters soon that are pretty much Sam, Tucker and Ryan-centric. So, how'd this one go? Please review! Thanks for reading. **


	10. Fire of Hate

**I got sick in ****Texas****. -coughs- Why doesn't that surprise me?**

**Thanks for those gracious reviews **Hordak's Pupil, mystery writer5775, Plushiemon, princess moon shadow, Miriam1

* * *

10. Fire of Hate

The bachelor half ghost grinned at the hero, cracking his fingers. "Still trying to look for your little friends, are we?"

"We already figured out you're hiding them in Colorado, Plasmius," the boy told him, his eyes now focused on the man, an edge of anger in his tone. "We can go there and save them, you know."

The caped-clad villain merely chuckled slightly. "Can you now? I'm out of your jurisdiction, though, Daniel. Anyway you look at the playing field, I have already won. There's no need for you to do anything now except to follow my orders and allow me to do as I please with Ryan and Sam and Tucker..."

Phantom narrowed his eyes. "What would you know about any of these crime lab border lines and crap like that?"

Plasmius shrugged. "I'm manipulative and can get my way through any means, Daniel. Even if it means I have to cheat and go out on a limb to make a deal with someone."

The boy fired a ghost ray in his enemy's direction, who easily dodged the blast. Growling, his hand glowed a bright green, his eyes flaming. "Why don't we just get to the part where you tell me what the heck you're going to do to them and I kick your butt? It's the latter that I always look forward to most."

"How about not?" his foe replied silkily, putting up a magenta shield. "How about we get to the part where _I _soundly kick your butt?"

Phantom gritted his teeth. This wasn't going very well. It wasn't like Horatio had some insane ability and secret that he knew about Plasmius that he didn't. He charged up another ghost ray, firing it right at the shield. Magenta absorbed emerald as his power intensified until... _crack._ The shield broke, and Plasmius was sent flying backwards ten feet. The boy proceeded to fly forward and launch an ice attack in his direction. Shards pummeled the bachelor in the chest.

A monstrous snowball came out of his hands and was hurtled towards the man, hitting him and freezing over the vampire-looking ghost. Phantom glared at him. "Now tell me... what do you plan on doing with them?!"

A red aura shined around the block of ice, and suddenly, the ice shattered, and the billionaire half ghost was floating in mid-air, hands glowing and in a battle stance. He licked his lips, throwing his hands out viciously. Ectoplasmic daggers flew in the boy's direction, Plasmius' eyes flaming. "I have no right to tell you about what I plan on doing with your little friends, Daniel. No matter what you do to me, there is no chance of me telling you my secret to gaining victory over you and Horatio!"

Phantom blinked. How did H know Vlad?

* * *

"You've been trying to distract me all this time from Plasmius, haven't you?" Horatio growled lowly, taking a step towards Stetler.

The brunette simply rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "He offered me a deal, Horatio. I couldn't just pass up the fact that I could snag your job from right under your nose!"

"I should seriously consider _breaking_ your nose right about now," the redhead replied angrily, his hand balling up into a fist.

The shattering of glass caused their heads to whip in the direction of the noise. Horatio's nine millimeter glock was in his hand faster than you could say "pina colada," and he made his way to the source of the noise. The DNA Lab had in the window, a light breeze blowing inside the stuffy room. Outside, Phantom and Plasmius were engaged in battle. Phantom shot ice rays at his foe, succeeding at one point to freezing him. He seemed to be threatening the older male half-ghost, who broke free from his prison and began to attack in a similar fashion. Horatio merely stood there, both awed and worried about the ongoing feud between them.

That is, until Rick snapped him out of his gaze. "You've got to stop this, Horatio!"

Horatio kept his weapon level as he opened the door to the lab and made his way towards the broken window. As he continued his careful journey towards the fight, he heard Plasmius shouting, "I have no right to tell you about what I plan on doing with your little friends, Daniel. No matter what you do to me, there is no chance of me telling you my secret to gaining victory over you and Horatio!"

Horatio took this opportunity to fire a shot towards the two combatants. Phantom let out a small yelp as he raced towards the building. "Easy! I'm not used to being fired at with a _real_ gun!"

Plasmius laughed. "Poor Daniel. So defenseless from the real world, are we?"

"Nobody asked you!" he shouted angrily, proceeding to land a fist into Plasmius' stomach and knocking the wind out of him.

Horatio merely stood there, the gun still out. "Plasmius," he uttered finally, hate dripping from his tone.

The bachelor clutched his stomach, eyes flashing dangerously. "You've known all along."

"Actually, no I haven't. I just figured it out today," Horatio admitted, poised to fire at any threatening movement by the billionaire. "Although, I have to say- those couple of days you decided to hang around Florida State University was just enough for me to realize that you were bitter and alone. And given the fact that Jack Fenton left a voicemail for me that one night..."

Phantom turned to Horatio, eyes widening with shock. "You knew my _dad?_"

The redhead shook his head. "No, I didn't. He called me one night to tell Vlad he was missing Taco Night at a local restaurant."

"Yep. That's Dad for you," he mumbled.

"But that's beyond the point," Horatio continued. "Plasmius, what've you done with my CSI?"

The black-haired ghost chuckled wryly. "I'm afraid I can't tell you, Horatio. That would only make your chances slimmer of finding him alive when I'm through with him."

Horatio nodded, pretending to accept this. However, his insides boiled like the humidity. "Okay, then. What've you done with Stetler to make a deal with him?"

"Oh, so you've discovered_ that_ part of my plan!" Plasmius sounded delighted. "Well, that just makes my life a whole lot easier for you and me! Stetler here wanted to make sure that he could get a promotion in the lab, so I promised him that he'd get it as long as he kept you busy and not learn about my little thing with Ryan. And so far, he's kept up his end of the deal, so I may as well keep up mine. If you're lucky, you'll be sergeant of Internal Affairs tomorrow, Horatio!"

The man's heart rate skyrocketed. This wasn't happening. This couldn't have been happening.

Phantom, however, clearly looked baffled. "I don't get it."

The man snorted. "Of course you don't, dear boy. It's politics and job promotions. You wouldn't understand."

Finally having enough, Phantom turned to Plasmius, eyes blazing. "I'm going to ask you one more time, Vlad- what are you doing with them?!"

"It's none of your business," he snapped in reply.

Horatio stood there, gun blazing. "You _didn't._"

Plasmius smirked. "I did."

Phantom floated there, turning his head from Horatio to Plasmius like one would be watching a tennis match. "What the _hell_ am I missing here?"

"Simple. Horatio isn't going to be lieutenant tomorrow... if all goes well with paperwork and such," Plasmius stated simply. "He's going to be the Internal Affairs sergeant. Stetler is going to be taking the position of lieutenant of the lab."

The boy nearly fell over in the air. Horatio's eyes had narrowed to slits. How could this have happened?

Only one answer screamed out in Phantom's mind.

Overshadowing.

The teen merely crossed his arms. "Being the cheating business man you are, you overshadowed someone, and now Stetler's going to have his way."

"Yes, in a sense."

Horatio's finger was on the trigger. "I should shoot you right now, Plasmius."

The man gestured with a finger beckoning. "Ah. But why don't you, Horatio? Is it your martyrdom that is not allowing you to kill the one that stole Ryan from your lab?"

His eyes hardened, and for a moment, Phantom could've sworn he saw a hint of Plasmius in that murderous gaze. Horatio looked as if he could have killed Plasmius. Swallowing, Phantom turned invisible, going through the broken window and making his way towards the lounge of the lab. He turned visible and slumped into the chair, morphing. A gasp was heard, and Danny turned around in his seat.

Natalia Boa Vista stood there, coffee overflowing out of her cup. Her eyes were as wide as dinner plates.

"Danny?"

* * *

**And I leave you there with that terrible cliffhanger yet again. Now Natalia knows, Horatio knows... and I have yet to spill what is going on with Sam, Tucker, and Ryan. Well, that's next chapter, my friends. And perhaps we'll learn a little more about the confrontation between H and Vlad. Thanks for reading.**


	11. Denver Indulgence

**How many stories can one girl do? I amaze myself sometimes, and right now is one of those times. I'm no longer sick, thank god, and I am now in the midst of carrying approximately thirty stories for completion. CSI: ****Miami****, CSI: ****New York****, Danny Phantom... and I got asked how I do it. Don't ask.**

**Thanks for the reviews **mystery writer5775, Hordak's Pupil, Plushiemon, princess moon shadow, Miriam1, ImmortalPhantom22, Le Pecore Nere

* * *

11. Denver Indulgence

"Now what do we do?" Sam groaned under her breath, staring at the bubble and Ryan.

The young CSI pursed his lips in thought, taking a glance around the cabin. "There's got to be a way we can get out of here and not attract so much attention that Plasmius may come running back. But with Tucker's hand broken and our only means of escape through the door on the opposite side of the room..." He shrugged helplessly. "I would throw out a nice suggestion, but I'm kind of helpless to that notion right now."

Tucker grimaced, biting the inside of his mouth to keep from crying out in pain. "God, he really did a number that time on my hand. I never thought of him to be_this_ bad."

"Heh. I don't think any of us were expecting him to act like an ass for the fiftieth time in our lives," the Goth grumbled. "Breaking your hand..." She glanced concernedly over at the African, who was on the floor, silent tears rolling down his face. "Tucker, we've got to get your hand checked when we get out of here. It could seriously be something bad that might not be able to heal."

The teenage techno-geek stared at her. "Don't make me feel worse than I already do!"

Ryan sighed and leaned against the firm surface of the ectoplasmic bubble. His mind began working furiously as he contemplated a plan to try and escape with his two new allies. Granted, they were kids, but they seemed to know a lot about Plasmius- more than he would ever know about that ghost. Ghosts- they weren't real, right? He felt extremely stupid right then. Yes, they were real, or he was a half ghost.

Not like those ever existed.

Suddenly, he spotted a button nearest to Tucker's cage and smacked himself mentally. It was too easy.

He was also tired of listening to two teenagers arguing with each other about body parts. Finally, he cleared his throat and called out, "Tucker!"

The boy looked at the CSI, embarrassed at the fighting that had occurred only moments before. "Yeah?"

"There's a button next to your cage that I'm pretty sure you can reach with your right hand- the one you didn't break. If you press it, you and Sam can escape and leave me to deal with Plasmius about you got out of here."

Sam's eyes widened. "Are you insane or something?! There's no way we're leaving you here, Ryan! Trust me when I say that Plasmius is one seriously-crazed up fruit loop! He'd do things to you that are worse when he was making a clone of Danny!"

Wait a second. Back up the truck.

Her hand went over her mouth. "Oh, shoot."

Ryan merely raised an eyebrow at this. He didn't speak, nodding to Tucker. Wincing, he crawled over and pressed a button and the gates suddenly rose with a slow speed. Ryan merely kept his eye on Tucker and looked at the control panel for a moment. "Okay. Listen, when you get out of there, I think you only have to hit a button on the right side of this panel. Not that hard- it'll get Sam out, and then you guys can make a bolt for it." He smiled at Sam's frightened look of anger and pain. "I'll be fine! I've had a nail shot in my eye one time. Compared to what Plasmius could do to me, I don't think it would be as bad."

_Pop._

The bubble suddenly burst, and Ryan fell to the floor around four inches. He looked at Sam and Tucker stupidly before shaking his head. "Honestly..."

"I should tell you- we have a tendency for not listening to our elders," Sam told him coolly. "It's one of our bad habits. Besides, we're friends of a superhero ghost. We've got to go and help him sometimes. And the only way to do _that..."_ She turned to him slightly, gesturing him. He followed, and they began a short run down the hallway in the cabin. "...is by the art of disobeying."

"I don't understand teenagers," Ryan mumbled, running down the hallway and looking into a room.

Plasmius had taken his gun, and he really wanted it back...

* * *

Danny stood up quickly, placing his hands in front of his body defensively. "Natalia, let me explain..."

She shook her head. "I don't need an explanation. I just want an answer."

It hurt the teenager so much at how she sounded. Natalia sounded as if her boyfriend had just broke up with her- hurt, wounded, and saddened. Danny knew what answer she wanted- he wasn't sure if it was good for him to tell yet _another_ person about his secret. Horatio already knew, and he had been surprised. But Natalia- he trusted _her_ right now more than he trusted Horatio.

He bit his lip. "Um..."

"Come on," she told him, sitting down with a new cup of coffee. "I know you and Phantom are the same person now. There's not much you can do about that notion."

Danny groaned. "All right, all right. You can be damn convincing, did you know that?"

She hinted a small smile. "It's my job, Danny."

He shrugged. "My parents are ghost hunters. They were building a ghost portal around a year or so ago, and they decided to show me their new design. My dad was really convinced that it would work this time around. Well, he put in the power switch, and... nothing. There was a small spark, but nothing appeared. My parents just waked away to try and refigure their calculations, and I ended up going in and checking out what the inside looked like.

"Now, I had no idea that if I pushed a button in darkness that the portal would turn on, and I would be zapped by the shock of the portal. Mind you, I thought I was dead when I woke up, and when I ran over to a mirror, my appearance had changed to who you saw as Phantom. I freaked out, couldn't believe anything that had happened to me."

Natalia frowned. "Don't your parents know?"

Danny laughed bitterly. "I can't tell them. They want to rip Danny Phantom apart molecule by molecule. And frankly, I don't feel like getting perhaps shunned and landing on a dissection table."

"You've got to tell them someday, though," she reasoned.

"Now isn't really the time, though."

A sudden shattering of glass and a large frame of a forty year old crashed through the window. Danny dived away from the table, Natalia screaming as her coffee went flying in another direction. Plasmius looked up from the floor, eyes flashing. "Found you, little badger."

Natalia wrinkled her nose. "Oh, god. That's disgusting."

"Plasmius, where are they?!" Danny growled, clenching his fists.

The male looked through the hole in the wall. "If you really want to know, follow the evidence, Daniel. It'll take you straight to them- but by the time you reach them, it'll all ready be too late!" A fierce expression appeared on his face. "They'll be worse off than ghosts!"

He turned intangible, leaving a stunned Danny and Natalia in the lounge.

"My _coffee!"_ she suddenly burst out angrily.

* * *

"Found it!" Ryan yelled happily. "Let's go!"

Sighing with relief, the trio began to run again. Tucker's hand was wrapped in a cotton cast with a strip of one of Vlad's business outfits, but it didn't stop him from wincing. "This bites."

"My friend, Alexx Woods, is a medical examiner in Miami. I'm sure she'll be able to take a look at your hand and be able to give you proper attention for it. Might seem like she only deals with the dead, but that's the biggest lie about her." Ryan took a deep breath. "She's the most caring person in the lab"

"That's right, fools. _Run."_

Ryan turned around, aiming his gun at the shadows. "Plasmius," he hissed. He turned to Sam and Tucker. "You guys run! I'll take care of him!"

"You're not staying here!" Sam told him flatly.

Ryan's eyes were on fire. "GO! Now! It's your only chance to get out of here!"

Tucker finally nodded. "Be careful, Ryan."

Sam merely bit the inside of her mouth and nodding before running after Tucker in the other direction.

Ryan looked towards the darkness. "Out the frying pan and into the oven, I guess..." And with these last words, he rushed back towards the lab.

* * *

**NO! RYAN, YOU IDIOT! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter:**

**Ryan and Plasmius... bad things will happen to our beloved CSI, and Sam and Ryan make a beeline for ****Miami** **Florida****. Meanwhile, Danny speaks more to Sam Barrish, the lab technician in Audio/Video.**

**Look for it sometime in the next two weeks! Thanks for reading, and please review!**


	12. Resilient Torture

**WHAT? ANOTHER UPDATE?! Yep. Inspiration came barreling into me, and I decided to take this opportune thought process and make it into a new chapter. Lucky you people.**

ImmortalPhantom22- **I meant to reply to you, but it didn't go through. Yes, Ryan can be very impulsive. Why doesn't that surprise me, even? Because he got fired in Season 5 for gambling. -fumes- But he's back now.**

mystery writer5775-** YES, Ryan! He's scary and impulsive, like I said. But in the end, it's going to save Sam and Tucker.**

**Thanks for the reviews **Hordak's Pupil, mystery writer5775, Miraim1, princess moon shadow, ImmortalPhantom22, Le Pecore Nere

* * *

12. Resilient Torture

The door was open, and a red alert screamed in Ryan's head as he made his way inside the now-dark room. Not a light was on- no flashing lights, no lights from where he was inside his bubble, nothing. Something had definitely gone wrong because he last remember leaving the room with the lights on.

It was then that the young CSI realized that the entire room and seemingly froze over. A cold chill rushed down his back as he steadied his gun and made his way deeper into the darkness. "I know you're in here, Plasmius," he called, his voice straining to not crack from worry and fear. "So why don't you just show yourself, forget about Sam and Tucker, and take me back?"

A soft magenta light suddenly lit up the room, and Plasmius stood around six inches away from him, a demonic grin on his face. "I think that's a wonderful idea," he smirked, reaching out with that same hand and grabbing Ryan by the throat. With the other gloved hand, he grabbed his nine millimeter glock and crushed it, eyes blazing. "You allowed them to escape, and yet you sacrifice yourself for them. How disgusting." He wrinkled his nose. "Just like Daniel."

There was that name again. Ryan blinked, swallowing at the gesture by the half ghost and took a step back. "Okay, look. I know we all have our reasons for revenge and everything, Plasmius. But can't you just tell me what the heck is going on and why you hate this Daniel kid so much?"

"Oh, that's merely the little pet name I call him," the half ghost replied airily, grabbing Ryan's hand and sending a wave of electricity through his body. Ryan howled. "His name that everyone else decides to call him is Danny, but Daniel is much more formal and affectionate. But that's not the reason why I'm back.

"Where are Samantha and Tucker?"

Ryan swallowed slightly, growling lowly. "No idea."

Plasmius sent another shock though his body and smirked. Ryan began to scream in agony once again, writhing in pain. "Come now, Ryan. Surely you can offer me a better excuse than that. I know that you've allowed them to try and escape back to Miami. Rest assured, they'll get there and there will be no crime lab for them to go to. Now, I'll ask you again. Where are they?"

"Told you... already... have... no... _clue!"_

This was seriously beginning to annoy the hybrid. Sighing and rolling his eyes, he picked up Ryan by the hand and waved his own hand. The pink bubble appeared, and he threw the young male inside. Ryan's hand went on the inside of the bubble, horrified in realizing he couldn't escape once again. Plasmius arched an eyebrow. "Ryan. You tell me where those two annoying brats are, and I'll release you. It's not that hard."

Indeed, it seemed like a tempting proposition. But he already knew his answer. He stared at Vlad defiantly. "No. I won't tell you!"

"Suit yourself," the male growled, poling the bubble. Vibrations began to echo inside the ectoplasm, and Ryan had to cover his ears and bite the inside of his mouth to keep from yelling out. "I offered your way to freedom, and you spat it back in my face." His nostrils flared. "You can help me, Ryan! You... of all the people in the lab, it was your talent that made me kidnap you!"

Ryan was in too much pain to actually comprehend what he just said.

"And goddamnit, I can make your life easier!" He hit the bubble with an unusual amount of force. "Think about it, Ryan!"

The CSI screamed in agony, hunched into a little ball in the bubble. He wanted to vibrations to stop. All of them...

* * *

He swallowed, looking around the lab. No one seemed to really be interested in working at the moment. They were busily chattering amongst themselves about the ghost attack they had just seen in the lab. He silently laughed, shaking his head and making a turn towards the Audio Visual Lab. 'I think Miami needs to see more excitement than from sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll,' he thought, grinning slightly.

Walking into the lab, he saw a young woman in her early thirties stand in front of a large panel and moving things on a board. She turned back and blinked, smiling slightly at the new visitor. "You must be Danny," she acknowledged. "I've heard a lot of talk about a teenager roaming these halls."

"Really?"

"It's not often we get someone your age working on a case with us in finding a missing CSI. Or on any other case for that matter." She nodded. "I'm Sam- Sam Barrish, the new A/V tech for the crime lab."

He smiled in return. "Danny Fenton."

She turned back to her console, pushing up pictures of Sam, Tucker, and Ryan. "So, we're looking for a cabin in the Rockies that belongs to a Vlad Masters," she told him, oblivious to the fact that he knew this already. "Apparently, he has a half-ghost side that has taken all three people. Once we find him, we can take him out, grab Ryan and the others and get out of there." She chuckled. "Well, you guys can. I'll be here in helping you guys find him."

Danny was very tempted to burst out that he already knew that Vlad Masters and Vlad Plasmius were the same person, but one other thought crossed his mind.

'I wonder if Tucker would pass out on the floor if he saw this place,' he thought.

* * *

Sam winced as she heard Ryan's scream from outside. "I still say we should go back for him."

"He'll be fine," Tucker tried to reason with her just as much as him. "Ryan's a CSI, Sam. He knows what to do in situations like these." His eyes landed on a sporty 2006 Convertible. His eyes gleamed. "Hey, maybe we can get out of here with that!"

The Goth shook her head. "We wouldn't get to Miami for a couple of days. There's got to be something around here that's a lot more efficient than a sports car to get us to Florida. Maybe a helicopter or a plane or something." She looked around and spotted a stairway towards the rooftop. "Come on. I think we might have more luck if we're outside."

"This has 'bad' written all over it," Tucker grumbled, keeping his hand close to his body and following Sam up the stairwell.

The door was opened to the outside world, and Sam grinned. "Well, what do you know? A helicopter."

The boy next to her shook his head. "You've gotta be psychic or something to know that there was actually a helicopter out here."

"Very funny," she replied dryly. "Let's go. We've got to get to Miami and help the others get Ryan out of here."

Tucker sighed and got into the front seat of the helicopter as Sam began checking controls for liftoff. He couldn't figure out why simple vacations always had to end up in disaster or something other than peaceful times with his friends.

* * *

**Gah! Vlad's torturing Ryan- slightly. I won't do any real damage to him yet. YET being the key word here, people. Anyways, next chapter:**

**REUNION****! Sam and Tucker are reunited with Danny in a heart-wrenching moment, and Alexx Woods is seen again to help Tucker with his broken hand. More Horatio and Stetler, too. What's up with the Internal Affairs agent, anyways? (Stetler)**

**At least you have something to look forward to. Thanks for reading, and feel free to review!**


	13. Meeting Alexx Woods

**Dude, I did it. I fixed my line breaks finally. Well, for this story at least. -winces- I have to do it for some other ones too. Long chapter ahead!**

**Thanks for the reviews **Jag Lady, Hordak's Pupil, princess moon shadow, mystery writer5775, Billie Jukes, ImmortalPhantom22, Miriam1, Le Pecore Nere, Alysandra Martin

* * *

13. Meeting Alexx Woods

"It's nearly seven," Barrish observed, biting her lip and pulling up more images onto her computer and glancing at Danny. "Shouldn't you be getting back to your hotel or something?"

The teenager sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I wasn't able to sleep last night, and chances are more than likely that I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight either. I'm way too worried about Sam and Tucker to actually get any rest." He laughed slightly, watching the Audio/Visual tech work her magic at the computer. "So, how long have you been working here?"

She gave a small snicker in return. "Only for a couple of months, to tell you the truth. I got here a little before the former lab tech, Dan Cooper, was fired for hacking into a deceased CSI's account. He was kind of a jerk when he was being ld out, but other than that, he really was a nice guy." She winced. "Still can't believe that he actually was a credit card thief. Kind of painful, if you think about it." She was quiet for a moment, moving photographs and videos up onto the screen, frowning slightly. "That's weird," she muttered, clicking on one of them.

Danny watched with a confused expression. "What is?"

"Check out this video feed I got from a camera inside of Vlad's lab," she told him, clicking on a feed. "It shows one frame of Ryan and your friends in there, and the next, it goes completely dark. Then there's a magenta hue in the room, and suddenly the lights flash back on." She furrowed her brow for a moment. "Do you have any ideas?"

He shook his head. "I'm not really that sure. Maybe it's Plasmius or something."

"His ghost alter ego?"

Danny gave a short nod. "Possibly. Vlad has a sick and twisted sense of humor to think that he can sneak up on someone and scare the hell outta them and maybe do something unpleasent to them."

Barrish sighed. "You act as if you've known of his identity for a long time."

He didn't say anything for a little while.

* * *

It wasn't one of the best ideas in the world, but Sam knew it was definitely one of the fastest. If they were going to get to Miami in a good amount of time and try to save Ryan from certain impending doom, she knew she had to go as quickly as she could in the darkness of seven-thirty at night. Not only that, but Tucker was beginning to moan about his hand and how he couldn't do anything that involved his PDA with it. That in and of itself was enough to push the Goth girl to her flying limits.

"I see land!" Tucker yelled gleefully.

Sam couldn't help but smile. She gently guided the helicopter over the land, yelling inwardly with joy. She, too, could not believe it. They were alive- they were alive and going back to Miami. How in the world had they done it? "Maybe being with Danny for a long time has finally done something to us about trying to break free from villains and saving ourselves from certain impending doom," she told her friend happily.

The boy shrugged slightly. "Maybe. Are you two going to have a Hollywood moment when we touch ground in the parking lot?"

She shot him an evil glare. "What makes you think that?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's the fact you two like each other so damn much."

"Tucker, that's not very funny."

The tech teen rolled his eyes. "Maybe from your perspective it's not."

* * *

Danny frowned slightly. "Hey, Sam- do you hear that?"

The lab tech frowned. "That loud whirring noise outside? Actually, yeah I do. Have any clue what it could be?"

"I think I might be able to help with that."

Both people turned around at the sound of Natalia's slightly excited voice. She gestured to both of them. "Come on. There's a helicopter landing in the parking lot. Sources are beginning to say that the pilot of it is a teenage girl, and she had an African America teenager in the front seat alongside her. We're thinking it could be your two best friends, Sam and Tucker!"

The rush of wind that passed Barrish and Natalia was proof that Danny had bolted past them in hopes of seeing his two best friends again. The two women smiled at each other. Natalia gave a short nod. "I'll go and grab Alexx just in case they've got injuries or something."

"I'll find the lieutenant," Sam replied, and the two teammates parted ways.

* * *

He couldn't believe it. He simply could not believe his eyes.

They were alive and getting out of a helicopter.

Danny ran over to Sam and Tucker and helped both of them get out of the flying machine. His eyes seemed to shine with happy tears as he helped Tucker out first and nodded to him, grabbing his hand that held the PDA and not his limp one. "Tucker! Oh, my god! I'm just..."

The other boy grinned, wincing slightly. "Dude... careful. I've got a broken hand. Vlad decided to think it was cute and crush a limb of mine up against a cage, and it hurts a lot."

"I've got it covered."

The two teenagers looked towards the source of the voice, and Alexx Woods was running over to them, followed by Natalia, Horatio, and Sam Barrish. The medical examiner was carrying some bandages, a split, and other assorted items towards the scene. Danny blinked. "Who are you?"

Alexx set down some of her things. "Alexx Woods, medical examiner for the Miami-Dade crime lab. You're Danny Fenton. Am I right?"

He wasn't even going to ask about the name thing. Sighing wearily and miserably failing to hold back a yawn, he nodded. "Yeah. Are you going to be able to help my friends?"

"Sweetie, I'm going to help them get better for sure. I can't stand to see kids your age get hurt by some psychotic killer who happens to leave his DNA on the body of a young boy." She smiled at him. "Your friend is going to get better. I promise." She took Tucker's hand and examined it, holding it by the wrist. "Okay. This isn't going to be something you'll want to hear, but this is definitely going to take some time to heal. But by the time I finish wrapping it up, it'll heal within... I'm hoping a month."

Tucker backed away. "I'm not one for doctors and nurses and..."

Alexx raised an eyebrow. "Any particular reason?"

"Uh... let's just say I've had really bad experiences in the past with them."

She sighed and looked at the splint, reaching out for the frightened teenager. "Well, unless you'd lke to have your arm not heal properly, I think you'd better have me take a look at it, Mr...?"

"Foley. But call me Tucker." He swallowed. "This isn't going to be realy painful, right?"

"Tucker," Natalia spoke up finally. "Alexx Woods is one of the best doctors in Miami. She has prescribed drugs to Ryan when they..."

The medical examiner gave her a look. "Not a word about that to him until he feels it's right to know."

"Right." She sighed. "Alexx is the best at what she does. I promise."

Tucker bit his lip and reluctantly handed her his wrist. "If you say so..."

* * *

Meanwhile, Sam and Danny were standing over near the helicopter, having a slightly awkward moment together. The Goth smiled a little as Danny embraced her. "I'm fine. It was Tucker I was worried about."

"Where's Ryan?"

Sam bit her lip slightly, looking towards the direction they had just come from. "He decided to stay behind and try to distract Vlad for us while we made a beeline for here. I insisted that he come with us, but he said he'd be able to take the brunt of everything from Vlad and we should get back here so we could see you." She looked back at her best friend with tears in her eyes. "I'm worried about him, Danny."

He looked back at the others, nodding. "I think we all are, Sam."

* * *

He walked back into the building and made his way up to the floor of the crime lab, sighing and rubbing his forehead. It had been a long day in the lab- longer than he ever would have dreamed of. At least the two kids were safe from Vlad's clutches- that was one thing off his mind. Now ll he had to do was get Ryan out of Colorado and make sure to catch little Michael's killer. It was quieter now, the quietest it had been all day long. He looked around for a moment before smiling slightly. "What is it now, Rick?"

Stetler leaned up against the wall and raised an eyebrow. "You really want to know?"

"I want you to know that my thoughts of you right now are to go and soak your head."

The Internal Affairs sergeant rolled his eyes. "What is wrong with you, Horatio? Am I doing something terrible right now that you hate my guts for? Honestly. I haven't done a thing to you all day long."

Horatio merely gazed at him, facing him at a fifty degree angle. "You're behind a plot to take one of my CSIs, your blood was found at the crime scene of Michael, and yet you're wondering why I'm being an ass to you? Rick, take it from me- you really don't want to be in my shoes right now. I've about had it with you."

Stetler rolled his eyes. "You really have nothing better to do but bash me, huh?"

"Currently, no. Now if you don't have anything better to do, I'd like for you to get out of my lab."

Stetler shrugged his shoulders in defeat and made his way to the elevator. "All right, fine. But I have two things to say to you.

"One- Vlad phoned me a little while ago. He's planning on having some ghosts invade the lab tomorrow. I don't know when exactly, and he didn't tell me who, but I will say that it could possibly split your team in half. Not from not wanting to work together, but from wanting to take out certain ghosts.

"And two..." He looked down for a moment and sighed. "I know about Brazil."

With this, he pushed the button. The elevator doors opened, and he walked inside, leaving a stunned Horatio in his wake.

Stetler knew about Brazil?

That did it. He couldn't just keep this bottled up away from the team. He had to tell someone. Anyone.

Could he tell a teenager about how he felt sometimes?

Horatio suddenly felt lost for the first time in six years- since he first became a CSI.

* * *

**Hah. I cooked up another cliffie for you guys. How's this one for you? Don't worry. I'll get into the whole Brazil thing. Promise.**

**Reason for repost: Um, I screwed up. BADLY. Go away. I'm fixing the whole thing between Tucker and Alexx.**

**I fixed the chapter for the line to fit with "Doctor's Disorders." Thank you **Silver Shadowbreeze!


	14. Invasion of Privacy

**Okay, then. This chapter is seriously... informative, I guess? It's LONG. There's a LOT of Horatio in this chapter. A LOT OF IT.**

**Spoilers for CSI: Miami in general.**

**Thanks for the kind reviews** Alysandra Martin, Hordak's Pupil, Silver Shadowbreeze, Miriam1, princess moon shadow, Le Pecore Nere, Plushiemon, cabot007, ImmortalPhantom22

* * *

14. Invasion of Privacy

Seven-thirty AM, Miami-Dade Crime Lab, locker room.

Danny had insisted on staying at the lab while Sam and Tucker were being treated for their wounds and cuts and broken hands. In the process, he had managed to fall asleep somewhere around the tim of nine-thirty in the lobby. Eric had taken it upon himself to move the boy to the locker room and make sure he was comfortable enough to sleep for the night. The metal bench wasn't exactly the ideal bed that he had dreamed of, but it suited his purpose for sticking around and making sure his friends were going to be all right.

He blinked blearily, swinging his feet over the edge of the bench and stretched, cringing. He remembered he didn't have an extra pair of clothing with him. After being in the lab all day, it never occurred to him that he was going to be sleeping in a crime lab. Chances were more than likely that he was by himself and Sam and Tucker were sticking around somewhere more comfortable than where he was now. He stumbled out of the room and blinked, the sunlight shining in his eyes. "Good morning, Miami," he muttered.

"Danny."

He blinked again, turning around and noticing Horatio behind him. The redhead smiled at him, fingering that pair of sunglasses he had always carried around with him. The raven haired teenager and the lieutenant stared at each other for a couple long moments before Danny yawned and gave him a wave. "'Morning, lieutenant," he replied, finally returning the smile.

Horatio cocked his head. "I was wondering if I could talk to you for a few minutes before you go and see your friends."

Danny shrugged. "Sure."

The man gestured him over to him near the window and waited, contemplating every so quietly. His thoughts drifted to memories of his wife, dying next to him in the ambulance and being stopped by the gang members. His hand unconsciously went to his glock on his side. The teenager blinked and swallowed slightly at the haunted look in the lieutenant's eyes. "Are you okay, Horatio?"

Horatio laughed bitterly and shook his head. "Far from it, actually. I just had a horrible revelation to me last night by our residential Internal Affairs agent, Sergeant Stetler."

"Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"You can listen to me for perhaps a little bit. Do you have some time to hear out a man's secrets before you run off to be with your friends?"

Danny nodded. "You helped me in getting them back... kind of."

Horatio turned towards Danny. It occurred to the teenager that he never fully faced a person ever since he had got here. His body was constantly turned at a fifty degree angle, and he would always talk downwards towards the floor and not look at people in the eye unless he meant something. Danny didn't understand the reasoning behind this at all, but he felt it was rude to pry into such matters. He looked away slightly and tried to count the floor tiles in his head while speaking aloud. "So... um, what did you wanna talk to me about?"

"Have you ever loved someone, Danny?"

It was a startling question, to be sure. He looked at the redhead, surprised by the start of the conversation. "Yeah. I've had a crush on a girl I really like, but I haven't... _love_-loved someone before."

Horatio ducked his head and grinned. "Like Samantha Manson?"

"Um, maybe..."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry into that part of your life."

Danny shook his head. "Whatever. What's Sam and love have to do with you?"

"Well, I loved someone once too. A woman I met through my coworker Eric Delko, who got you into the evidence locker last night for your sleeping purposes. This woman was Eric's sister, Marisol." Horatio swallowed slightly. "I met her, and I found out that Eric was buying drugs off the street for her. As in, cocaine and crack."

The teen frowned. "One of your CSIs was buying drugs for her?"

The redhead nodded. "Yes. Marisol, you see, had leukemia. She was fighting off the pain with smoking crack and was going to chemotherapy on a weekly basis. I fell in love with her during this time, and we began meeting each other often. Now, mind you, Eric was very protective of his older sibling. Yes, I said _older. _But that didn't stop us from going out to lunch together for some time and getting to know each other better.

"Time passed, and eventually, I asked her to marry me. Some people have told me it was much too soon for the two of us since we were going out for approximately six months, but I felt it was time. I really loved Marisol. And when May of 2006 rolled around, I was ready to marry her. We had a nice wedding together- some of our colleagues attended, but not many. It was all right, though. We loved each other, and that was all that mattered."

Danny sensed a snag. "But something bad happened."

Horatio didn't nod or shake his head. He merely stared out the window for a moment before looking back at Danny, a certain darkness in his eyes. "Something bad did happen.

"Over the year, I had gained some enemies through the local gang, the Mala Noche. I had locked up a couple of their members, and they were still upset with me about it. They decided to target some of my loved ones, and the one they knew was closest to me was Marisol." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "It happened less than twenty fours hours after we were married."

The teen blinked. "_What_ happened?"

Horatio gave him a look over for a moment before finally looking at him straight in the eyes.

Danny saw nothing but a storm of emotional turmoil that made him want to reach out to the lieutenant. He had never seen anyone so brokenhearted in his life. He broke away, his mind swimming in a pool of emotions before finally whispering out again, "What happened to Marisol?"

"She was shot."

It was so blunt, so blank. The teen had a gut-wrenching feeling he was reliving his worst moment in his life. And for some reason, the boy could feel the pain as well. It was hard to say how it felt- kind of sad, kind of heartbroken, kind of infuriated. The eyes said the same thing- darkness, longing, love. Danny found the courage to speak again. "Shot?"

Horatio could only nod. "The Mala Noche ordered a hit on my wife and myself. They got my wife, but they didn't get me. I ended up killing some of the gang members in an ambush on the way to the hospital. But the real killer, who had ordered the hit, was still out there, escaping from authorities." He shook his head again. "I was enraged, to say the least."

"I see you as calm, frankly," Danny admitted. "No emotion whatsoever."

The redhead smiled. "That's what everyone thinks about me. Contrary to popular belief, I'm very human. In which, it comes to the thing I really wanted to talk to you about. You can't tell anyone about this- Calleigh, Natalia, anyone. Only you, Yelina, Stetler, and I- as well as Eric- know what happened in Brazil.

"The federal agents of the country ended up finding Marisol's killer alongside us- a drug dealer and leader of the Mala Noche in Brazil, Antonio Riaz. Since he wasn't a citizen of the United States, they had him extradited to Brazil for murder. Things seemed to be moving along very well for a while... until we got a call one day from the chief of the police force in Brazil."

Danny bit his lip and shifted his stance. This didn't sound good. Judging by the tone of Horatio's voice and the look in his eyes growing darker, his figured this wasn't going to end well.

Horatio sighed. "The evidence was sabotaged. Riaz was going to become a free man because some of the witnesses went into witness protection- or so they say. So, Eric and I decided to do what the Brazil police failed to do- get Riaz."

"But he was already free, like you said," Danny pointed out.

"Yes, he was out. And he was still running around in Rio de Janeiro. I had no idea were to start looking, so I decided to go to an old friend of mine- or sister-in-law."

The teen's eyes widened. "Yelina was in Brazil?"

The lieutenant nodded, glancing down at his watch. Seven-fifty. He had been going on for twenty minutes. This was taking longer than he thought. He gave Danny another look. "You know, you can stop me whenever you want."

"No, I'm fine. How much longer is this going to take, though?"

Horatio chuckled. "Maybe another five to ten minutes."

"All right. Go on, then. Then I'm going to go and see Sam and Tucker."

His friend cocked his head and gave Danny a strange look. The raven haired hero could figure out if it was sadness or a distorted... fury? All the same, he shook himself out of his gaze and continued speaking. "Yelina and my brother were married, and my brother had been undercover with drugs before. I figured he'd know something about Riaz, so I went to go and see them, but... he wasn't there. In fact he was busy..." He walked towards the window and stared out at the international waterway outside the lab. "He was busy dying. Riaz had him killed because he was my brother. The last of my biological family, Raymond Caine, Sr... he ended up dying when I was beside him. He kind of died in my arms, as well."

Danny couldn't help but feel tears stinging his eyes. "Your family is all... gone?"

"Yes. My life hasn't exactly been the happiest, to say the least. Now, Eric and I ran off to find Riaz after having Ray's body arranged to be shipped back to the States. Eric found him first, and I snuck up behind him when they were in the middle of a fight. Riaz had a knife in his hand, I had a discarded knife in my hand. It kind of didn't work out for him because... Eric had evaded a knife and tossed it away. I grabbed it. Riaz ran for me after my repeated attempts to subdue him calmly. Nothing worked."

A feeling in his stomach rose, and Danny hated it. He thought he was going to throw up.

"Riaz ran for me, and..." Horatio looked dark and angry and sickened. "I stabbed him."

The raven haired male put a hand over his mouth, feeling his stomach suddenly whirl like a washing machine. "You killed him?!"

Horatio turned away. "He was running at me with a knife. What was I supposed to do?"

"I don't know! Anything but kill the guy!" Danny held his head and doubled over on the ground. His head was spinning. "Why did you kill him?!"

The lieutenant's eyes darkened even more. "It was self-defense. He killed my wife and my brother and was about to kill me. I can't help it if a drug lord and killer is going to kill me with a knife and I have my own knife... god, I... what would you have done?"

"I don't know! I'm only a half ghost that has to deal with a psychotic fruit loop who just so happened to take your CSI! I have to put up with him almost every single day because he's the mayor of the city where I live! Horatio, I'm not a fifty-something year old guy who's wife has been killed!" He looked furious. "Why are you telling me all of this, anyways?! I'm a fifteen year old kid!"

Horatio stared out the window. "It's because you've faced so much more than anyone could have ever dreamed of, myself included. Honestly, having to put Vlad every day is a lot better than killing people who..."

"Is that why Stetler is having such a fit right now?" Danny interrupted, still feeling slightly sick.

The redhead didn't reply. "You've heard enough. Go and see Sam and Tucker. Give them my best."

Frankly, Danny felt sick to his stomach. As he walked to the morgue, he felt like he was getting colder and colder- literally. He began to shiver as he rushed to see if his friends were okay. Something seemed wrong. He was feeling cold, a blue stream was coming out of his mouth... wait.

Blue stream?

A loud cackle suddenly echoed through the hall as a ghost rode down the hallway on a flaming horse, pointing his weapon at Danny. He groaned, narrowing his eyes in the ghost's direction. "Let me guess- Vlad sent you."

"Perhaps," the Fright Knight intoned, stopping in front of him, his horse rearing. "But it makes no difference. I'm not here for you- I'm here for the redhead."

Danny clenched his fists and morphed into Phantom. "What's Horatio got to do with anything?"

The ghost seemed to smile. "So he is around here." He motioned with his hand onward. "He's here! Find him and bring him to me!"

Suddenly, a weather-like ghost appeared, as did a hunting ghost. "His pelt will hang on my wall for good luck! I will be able to show him off to my allies!"

"Stay focused on the ta-"

_BAM._ Phantom suddenly landed a punch right to the Fright Knight's armor. The ghost went flying back with his horse, and screams suddenly erupted through the hall. The hybrid did a face-palm and floated in mid-air, watching Natalia and Alexx bolt towards the scene. "What are you-?"

Natalia rolled her eyes. "We're here to help you."

"How?!"

Alexx shrugged. "You expect us to know? Just tell us what we can do and we'll do anything we can."

Phantom opened his mouth, but Natalia winked in his direction. He sighed. "All right. It's simple. I need someone to come with me to Amity Park for a couple of hours. We need to grab some things to take these guys. Meanwhile, you all can distract the ghosts with something, and the CSI and I would be right back."

"We can find Eric and ask him," Alexx suggested. "He'd be good for the job."

The boy bit his lip. "All right. I need Eric, a distraction, and some food. I haven't eaten since last afternoon, and I'm getting kind of hungry..."

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**God, that was a long chapter. This explain the whole Brazil thing. I know- probably not that exciting, but I'm trying to explain something for later. As for Ryan and Vlad, they're coming in next chapter, as is more of Eric. Thanks for reading, and feel free to review.**


	15. Not Exactly Chinese Water Torture

**-wails angrily- I totally misplaced my original chapter titles! In fact, I misplaced the notebook all together! BAD SHINY! I gotta clean my room...**

**Thanks for the reviews** Hordak's Pupil, Le Pecore Nere, Miriam1, cabot007, princess moon shadow, GeekGirl2, Bored2Deth, CSI Junkie Aly, FernClaw

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15. Not Exactly Chinese Water Torture

"So, explain to me why we're on the roof of this place," Eric asked the teenager, who was looking down over the parking lot and nodding to himself. "I mean, we're not going to be able to fight... _ghosts_ up here."

Phantom turned to the CSI, his fierce gaze piercing straight through his eyes. "I know that. If we're going to face these guys, though, we're going to need a little bit more than back-up from a couple of friends. They're ghosts, Eric- they're not affected by human weapons. We can take them when we have some ghost equipment."

The Hispanic raised an eyebrow. "And you know where to get this stuff?"

"Yeah. I really don't want to say anything more than that, though."

"You got any plan on getting there?" Eric asked skeptically. "We're nearly 1500 miles away from Amity Park."

Phantom pursed his lips. This was going to be a severe problem. He had no idea how fast he'd have to fly in order to make it to Amity Park and back in just a few short hours. His eyes turned to the watch on Eric's hand. "What time is it right now?"

He looked down and frowned. "8:15. How come?"

The teenage hero grabbed the CSI's hand, a weary glint in his eyes. "We've got a long way to go. You up for a long flight in the arms of a ghost?"

"You can't carry me for 1500 miles!" Eric practically yelled at the top of his lungs.

Phantom snorted. "True. But I sure as hell can try, can't I?"

With this final remark, he leapt forward and began to soar off into the skies towards his home. He didn't plan on staying there for long, though- hopefully, a couple of hours would do the trick to try and grab some equipment and hurry back to Miami as best as they could.

* * *

Ryan sat there, panting heavily and gripping his hands the best he could without screaming. This was unbearable. He had gotten slightly used to those stupid pokes Plasmius had issued on the bubble, but now he was just going insane, plain and simple.

It wasn't very clear what the man was going to do to him, but he did know that it had something to do with ghosts. Snarling angrily and glaring at the forty year old bachelor, he reached out and touched the bubble as best as he could without issuing another scream. He was right there in front of him, an idiotic grin plastered up on his face. His voice was casual. "You enjoying yourself, Ryan?"

"What do you think, you crazed up fruit loop?!" he shot back. "I feel like an animal in this cage! You're treating me as if I'm some sort of freakin' experiment!"

The hand hit the bubble once more- except this time, it popped. Ryan suddenly felt a rush of fresh air overtake his body, and he fell to the floor, spluttering. A gloved hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed him by the neck, and he was shoved up against a wall. His eyes were interlocked with Plasmius' blood red ones, which were hateful and malicious. "You listen to me, detective," he whispered, his stank breath filling Ryan's nostrils. "I'm not a fruit loop, and I can treat you however you want. I can break your neck in an instant. I can throw you off the top of the Rockies and make it look as if your death was a terrible accident. All of these things show that right now... I can murder you with my bare hands."

The CSI began to choke slightly. The hybrid looked really ticked off.

"But I'm going to be nice. You'll only have to go into a containment chamber and undergo a terrible test each day to see if you really do have what it takes to become like Daniel and myself." Plasmius chuckled and released the male from his hold for a moment. "I can't wait to see Horatio's face when he discovers the monster you've become."

Ryan rubbed his neck. "What did he do to you?!" he spat out.

"Among other things? Too many to count. He's simply too smart and full of hot air for his own liking. Ever notice how he gets whatever he wants whenever he wants? And he doesn't care how he gets it?" The ghost snorted. "I ask him for one thing, and immediately he goes into a rage. All I wanted was to become friends with him- possibly. He moved down to FSU for a couple of years and got his degree in criminology. He's been doggedly pursuing me ever since my little masquerade in gaining companies for my own benefit."

The CSI frowned. "He's never said anything about that."

"Why would he? He keeps everything to himself and lives in a dream world." He sighed and grabbed his arm once again. "But that won't matter when I finally unleash your power on him, will it?"

Ryan struggled futilely. "You better get your hand off of me right n-ooooowwwww!" A scream burst forth as Plasmius shocked him with a Ghost Stinger attack. "Shoot! Oh, my god! Nooo!"

The half ghost bachelor looked pleased. "Does it hurt, Ryan? I should hope it does."

With this, he floated over to the containment chamber and thrust him inside, shutting the door and glancing at a hologram of a woman with short, red hair. "Maddie? Lock Mr. Wolfe into place and turn up the chamber to full power!"

_"Naturally, cupcake,"_ the hologram replied sweetly, turning a knob and typing in some things on the side.

The dark laugh of Vlad Plasmius was all Ryan heard before succumbing to the darkness.

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**Um... -looks completely lost- I tried. I really did. The whole scene with Ryan and Vlad wasn't supposed to happen until next chapter, so I flip-flopped. -wince- I'm going to get hurt for this. Thanks for reading.**


	16. Internal and External

**I'm not going to lie- it's taken me quite a bit to get back into Danny Phantom. I went on a Miami thing for a while- if you didn't notice- and I still am on a Miami fling. But slowly, I'm coming back to this place. BAD SHINY... Let's finish this fic in another ten chapters, shall we?**

**Thanks for the reviews **Bored2Deth, Me-agaisnt-the-world, Hordak's Pupil, FernClaw, Miriam1, cabot007, princess moon shadow, CSI Junkie Aly, Le Pecore Nere

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16. Internal and External

"Getting them upset was not one of your better ideas!" Natalia yelped, skidding to a stop and racing around the corner with Sam at her heels.

Sam gave a short laugh. "It keeps them distracted off of the real reason they might be here! At least, for us it does. You guys might have more of a challenge." She looked around and bolted into the DNA Lab, panting and ducking down so the Fright Knight would not spot them. "Do you have any good idea of why they're here for Horatio?"

Natalia shook her head. "Your guess is as good as mine. Although judging by the fact they could be goons working for Plasmius, they could be here to get H instead of Ryan. The way the two men see each other is almost as if they're more of archenemies than himself and Stetler." She shuddered. "Although how that can be even remotely _possible_ is beyond me."

The Goth sighed as she heard the Fright Knight seemingly pass the door. "I think it's okay to go back out."

"Do you deal with this often?"

Sam laughed bitterly. "Oh, you have _no idea..."_

* * *

Phantom panted as he set Eric down on the hard metal floor. "That was not fun."

"For you," Eric retorted. "I don't think I've seen someone fly so fast _or_ change from a ghost into a human."

He sighed and morphed again. Danny shook his head and looked around the lab, crossing his arms and shivering. "Since when did Mom and Dad turn down the thermostat down here? I thought I told them to turn it _up._" He scanned the room quickly and spotted a box of weapon in the corner of the room near the portal. "There. C'mon, let's grab some of these and go."

The CSI looked confused and walked over, his jaw dropping in the progress. There were countless amount of weapons inside the box, each looking stranger than the next. He gave Danny a look, who was gazing at the weapons in the drawers and picking some out. Danny cast a glance over at Eric and smiled at his reaction. "My parents are ghost hunters. Sure, they might not always catch them, but they really try their hardest."

Eric dug through the box. "Where did they get these?"

"Made 'em," the teen replied with a shrug. "They have their own line of ghost products, actually. They wonder half the time on why stuff does all wonky on me, but I can't tell them I'm half ghost. No idea what they'd do to me, and I don't want to take the chance of being sliced into nice pieces." He looked around. "You have some stuff?"

The CSI held up some of the guns. "Will these work?"

Danny furrowed his brow for a minute before his eyes lit up. "I've got it. We have a weapons vault upstairs. I'm sure they'll let me borrow some of their things!"

He took Eric's wrist and turned intangible, running up the stairs and phasing through the door into the weapons vault. He flicked on a light and looked around. "I'm pretty sure we can use some of these against the ghosts," he told Eric, plucking some guns off their shelving space. "If they work on them, I know they'll work on Vlad for sure."

The CSI raised an eyebrow. "So what you do have against him besides the fact he took your friends and our CSI?"

Danny turned in Eric's direction and sighed. "He's done a lot. He's my archenemy, to say the least."

"So, kind of like Stetler and H?"

The teen snorted and picked out more weapons. "It's deeper than that." He didn't want to go into details at that moment, and Eric seemed to notice.

The man turned to Danny. "You think this is enough?"

The teenager looked between the two of them and nodded. "I think we'll be fine." Another idea struck him, and his face unfurled into a wide grin. "And we won't have to fly using manual labor this time around. Come on. There's something I want to show you."

Eric blinked. As if this place wasn't weird enough already...

* * *

Tucker typed something into his PDA. "This bites," he complained. "How is it that you guys can get service with your phones, but I get nothing on my PDA?"

Alexx shrugged her shoulders, looking down at her phone. "I wouldn't know," she admitted, looking around and sighing in exasperation. "Shoot."

"What?"

"That weird tornado ghost is coming this way," she replied bitterly. "And chances are he's going to see us in here with the glass and desks and things." She snapped her phone shut and it her lip. "So how often have you faced ghosts?"

Tucker winced, the PDA slipping slightly. "Once, maybe twice a day." He glanced down and shook his head. "How come it's always this hot here?"

Alexx ducked down and put her finger to her lip. Vortex looked around and narrowed his eyes. "I know you're in here," he hissed, floating slowly around the room and beginning to make his way around the desk. "You can't hide from me forever! I can make you appear with a mere change in the weather!"

"I don't think you want to do that!"

The Specter Speeder flew down from above, and Phantom stood on the edge, holding a Fenton Bazooka. His eyes blazed as he threw two weapons at Tucker and Alexx. "No one's harming _any_ of my friends today!"

He shot the weapon at Vortex, and he went flying backwards, slamming into the glass in the crime lab. He nodded to Eric, who revved the engine. Phantom jumped off and looked around warily. "So, you got anyone else in here being chased?"

"Hey! A little help over here!" a female voice hollered, sounding suspiciously like Calleigh.

Phantom raised an eyebrow and nodded to Alexx and Tucker. "Be right back." With this, he flew over to the ballistics expert and gave her a short nod. "I think you might want to use this."

Calleigh gave him a suspicious look before taking the weapon from his hand. "This isn't illegal, is this?"

He gritted his teeth. "No. And if you want live against these guys, I suggest you use it against the ugly, flamed hair ghost that was chasing you." He turned around and flared his hands. "We can do it together!"

She bit her lip and looked down at her weapon. Skulker suddenly appeared in front of them again and grinned, his weapons out and aimed at them. Calleigh's gaze hardened. "Together? You've got a deal... um..." She lost the look for a moment. "What's your name?"

"Just call me Phantom," he told her hurriedly.

Skulker grinned. "Today is the day your pelt will adorn my wall, ghost child! I promise you that!"

Calleigh winced. "Oh, that sounded pleasant."

The ghost hunter fired his rockets. In a fit of near panic, the CSI fired her own weapon and the beams collided in midair. This give Phantom the opportunity to fly through the midst of the smoke and land a punch right into Skulker. The ghost flew back slightly and stopped himself right before he hit the wall. He made a low growl in his throat. "You asked for..."

"For this!"

Natalia panted and made a half-effort at throwing Phantom a thermos, Sam in tow and holding a weapon. The two women looked weary, and Phantom could tell that much. He pointed to where Alexx and Tucker battled with Vortex. "Go see what you can do with him, and I'll get rid of Skulker!" he ordered.

Both females nodded, groaning and making their way to where beams of energy shot around the room and hit glass on the ground. Phantom turned to Skulker, Calleigh aiming the gun at him. He opened the cap and sucked in the ghost, who screamed and felt the pull of the blue energy. A second later, Phantom snapped back on the top and felt a rattle, followed by what appeared to be a muffled swear. He smirked. "Two ghosts in one thermos. Nice."

Calleigh gave him a strange look as they made their way to the ongoing battle between the ME, the techno-whiz, and the weather ghost. "You helped me. You're not evil like the other ghosts in here."

"I'm not. And I also think you need to find your boss." He gave her a look. "You're close to him as a friend, right?"

She gawked at this for a moment before shaking her head and snapping back to reality. "Yeah."

Phantom nodded. "I can handle Vortex. Find Horatio!"

Calleigh nodded, and the two split off to fight a similar battle.

* * *

**Hey, look! I updated! I wish to finish this soon, so expect an update on Friday or something. Hope you enjoyed it.**

**I have a sequel in the works already. It will be a heck of a lot better than this one. PROMISE.**

**Thanks for reading, and feel free to review.**


	17. Ahead On Our Way

**Swore to myself I would finish this by summer's end, if possible. I promise.**

**Thanks for those reviews** FernClaw, Hordak's Pupil, Miriam1, queendragonfire, cabot007, princess moon shadow, CSI Junkie Aly, ImmortalPhantom22, Le Pecore Nere, Pushiemon, inukagome15

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17. Ahead On Our Way

"Ah! Phantom!" the weather ghost purred, turning his attention to the young hero that floated in the air beside his companions. "I was wondering when you were going to show your sniveling face around here! And here you are, after your little 'victory' against Skulker!" He puffed out his chest, trying to look important. "But now that you are finished with him, I can start my spree of revenge on you!"

Phantom's hands were alight, his eyes blazing with fury. "Why are you doing here, anyway?!"

Vortex smirked. "Under orders of Plasmius, of course. He offered me quite a reward if I managed to capture you and that stupid lieutenant without any harm done to either of you." His hands flared, his eyes sparking. "But that isn't going to be possible now, is it? As you stuck me in that _ridiculous_ thermos of yours a couple of months ago, I need to destroy you for that!" An ectoplasmic ball gathered in his hands, and he fired it at Phantom, who immediately put up a ghost shield and gritted his teeth in concentration.

Sam took a deep breath. "We have to take him down!"

"He'll only get more ticked off!" the hybrid countered, listening to the ghost's angry howls and the clashing of ecto-energy on ghost shield. "I don't know what you want me to do while you try and get him into that thermos holding two ghosts. Maybe Alexx and Sam can try and distract him while Tucker and Natalia injure him enough on the side! I know Calleigh is trying to find Horatio, so..." He nodded his head. "See what you can do with that!"

The small alliance sprang into action. Tucker grabbed the gun from Sam and rushed out into the open, firing at the weather ghost as best as he could. Natalia joined in the fray, aiming and landing a direct hit to the shoulder. Vortex whirled around and howled angrily, shooting a blast at Natalia. Her eyes widened with disbelief and surprise as she ran out of the way, hearing the last bit of glass shatter behind her as the blast hit a window. She breathed out slightly and whirled around, looking at Tucker and feeling her heart race. "I'm still not used to this!"

Tucker shrugged. "It takes a while to get used to this sort of thing," he admitted before yelping and running from an ectoplasmic blast Vortex sent his way. "But I've been spending a while with Phantom, so... it's an everyday occurrence now."

"So, you think you could consider this... ghost a criminal?"

The technology geek laughed. "Oh, yeah. Definitely."

"Quit yapping and get shooting!" Phantom called over the din, putting his shield down and allowing himself to be thrown headlong into the battle. "We've just got to weaken him a little bit more!"

Sam and Alexx meanwhile began to throw various insults at the weather ghosts from afar, and Natalia and Tucker began another assault on his left flank. Vortex didn't know where to turn to- the name-callers on his right, or the assailants on the left. He began to roar in confusion, and Phantom took this opportunity to aim the thermos at the ghost. "Time for you to see your new home!" he yelled humorously, the beam of light sucking Vortex in with the others.

The ghost shrieked madly, clawing his way out as best as he could, but Phantom gritted his teeth and waited for him to be completely sucked in. Suddenly, he was gone, and Phantom snapped the cap on, collapsing to the floor. "Holy... crap," he managed to gasp out.

Natalia merely stood there, weapon in hand, as Phantom morphed back against his will. Alexx gasped, backing up slightly. "What the... what the hell just happened?"

Sam gave Tucker a weary look. "Should I tell her, or do you get to be the storyteller this once?"

The boy grinned as they walked out of the office, carefully avoiding the glass shards that now lay on the floor. "Allow me..."

* * *

Plasmius frowned. "Odd. Computer, pull up the data on Subject W."

_"As you wish,"_ the Maddie computer replied calmly. A picture of Ryan appeared on the screen, his vitals showing, DNA compounds, and everything in between. _"Anything else, sweetheart?"_

"That will do it," he replied, turning his attention to the screen and floating slightly. He read the screen, his eyes narrowing with each word and number shown on the screen. "Let's see here- if he truly is supposed to be the perfect test subject, then why..." He crossed his arms. "Why in the name of the ghost zone is he managing to resist all the testing I am implementing on his body? And he's not even _trying_ to resist. He succumbed to me a day ago!" His gloved hand slammed down in frustration. "Chocolate muffins! What is going on?"

Plasmius turned away from the monitor and snarled softly under his breath. Where were those bumbling idiot lackeys of his, anyway? They should have been back with Daniel and Horatio by now. He turned on the computer monitor behind him to reveal video feed of the battle in the lab from a hidden camera. His blood froze as he watched Phantom suck in Vortex and collapse on the floor, morphing into his human state. His hand clenched up, his eyes beginning to smolder. "Oh, so that's how it is. He's decided to help those infernal CSIs now in helping to bring me down and find Ryan, has he? He's probably let them in my little secret..."

He whirled around, smashing the button to the containment center where Ryan was now kept with a fist. The door flew open, and Plasmius stormed into the room, jolting Ryan out of his daze. He was now bound up in the room, shackled to the wall of the containment chamber. He shook the bonds slightly, his voice slightly muffled by the glass. "What do you want now?!"

"I want you to _shut up!"_ Plasmius shrieked madly, his hands flaring with pink energy. "You and your team are a thorn in my side, Ryan Wolfe! And I am tired of this resistance!"

Ryan's eyes widened. Yep, the man had completely lost it. He backed away as one could in a glass chamber, opening his mouth. "What are you talking about?"

The bachelor clenched his fist. "Two people can play the same game, my fellow CSI. If you want to have the others save you... it can be arranged." His mouth curled into a vicious grin suddenly. "I will allow them to come and save you... and then, I can destroy them in front of you. Especially Horatio- I know how much that man means to you."

Plasmius smirked as Ryan snarled and tried to break free from his bonds. "You take that back, you bastard!"

"I would... if it wasn't the truth," the hybrid laughed. He was so close to victory, he could practically taste it. Daniel and Horatio would be in his grasp when they would go and rescue Ryan, and then... then he would get his wish.

Destroy one person, convert the other to his side.

Not that difficult, actually.

* * *

**Hah! I updated! And since school is out, expect some pretty good updates. -grin- Anyways, thanks for reading!**


	18. The Ghostly Plan

**Currently exhausted. Bear with me for its possible horrible-ness.**

**Thanks for reviewing** lily moonlight, Bored2Deth, Hordak's Pupil, CSI Junkie Aly, inukagome15, ImmortalPhantom22, Le Pecore Nere, valenciadarkness

* * *

18. The Ghostly Plan

"So, do we have any ideas of how to get Ryan back?" Eric pressed as the new team walked back into the longue for a meeting. The glass had been cleaned up- miraculously enough- so no one had any problems getting back to the table.

Danny, who had transformed after the battle with Vortex, gripped the thermos tightly and shook his head, his face morphed into some odd expression. "I have no idea. Usually, I don't rescue people from a kidnapper. It's more along the lines of simple ghost fighting. Honestly, I thought you guys might have had a better idea of how to rescue a person than me or Sam or Tucker."

Natalia sighed, shrugging her shoulders and shutting the door. "Well, let's go over what we know so far. A half ghost, who happens to be one of the richest men on the planet, has kidnapped Ryan. Your friends were kidnapped by the same man, but managed to escape. Stetler's been busy poking in his nose where it doesn't belong… and he doesn't know of your identity." She crossed her arms. "So… in a nutshell, we have to go and save Ryan and such before the Internal Affairs agent figured out you're a half ghost."

"'Talia, it's not as easy as that," Eric retorted, pacing around the room.

Sam and Tucker exchanged glances with Danny, who was looking out the window pensively. Something was bothering him, but neither of the two could place their finger on it. The technology geek nodded to the goth vegetarian, and she pulled Danny out of the room. Shutting the door, she took hold of Danny's hands and looked in his eyes. "Danny, what's bothering you?"

He shook his head. "I don't know, Sam. Something about all of this is making me feel really uneasy. Do you have any idea where Horatio is right now?"

She frowned. "Actually, I thought Calleigh was looking for him. Have you heard back from her yet?"

"Um, you two? Excuse me? Sam?"

Calleigh's concerned voice rounded the corner as the duo turned around and looked at the woman. She sighed and rubbed her head. "We have a bit of a problem. There's a ghost in Horatio's office… but it looks like someone we all know."

Danny blinked. "Someone we know?"

"Not you personally. Horatio knows her better."

Sam glanced at Danny and nodded. It was time to get a look at this.

* * *

He was up against the window, staring at the ghost and trying to take deep breaths. "This is… oh, my god. How did you come back?"

The female ghost merely floated there, watching Horatio and nodding softly. Her hair was long and brown, her sad green eyes staring at the redhead and muttering things under her breath. There was nothing there but… a familiar figure in front of him. Horatio thought he was seeing things- his wife was back from the dead?

There was a knock on the door. Horatio looked at the door and nodded. Danny opened the door and gasped, Sam behind him. The two of them, alongside Calleigh, stared at the ghost in front of them and blinked in astonishment. Danny morphed and floated towards her, his hand cautiously out. "Who are you?"

She turned around and gave a sad smile to the teenager. He backed away slightly. She spoke softly. "Phantom- I wanted to see my husband one more time."

Phantom blinked. "Oh, my gosh… you're Marisol, aren't you?"

Marisol nodded, pushing some of her hair behind her ears. She turned to her husband, who looked shocked beyond measure. She bowed her head. "Horatio- I know you think that Riaz killing me was not a good thing. You were full of darkness and hatred and fear. I do not blame you for feeling that way."

Horatio said nothing, looking down at the desk and closing his eyes. To Phantom's astonishment, he saw a sole tear sliding down his cheeks. "Marisol- it was such a hard time for me after you died. And it's only gotten worse…"

"The other ghost you see in front of you-" She gestured to Phantom, who blinked. "-he can help you get back what you so desire. This is the only hybrid I know that can stop the one who has taken Ryan."

The hero floated back in astonishment. Marisol trusted him? He raised a finger and pointed to himself. "Uh, excuse me, Marisol, but… you don't even know who I am!"

The ghostly figure of Horatio's past wife smiled gently. "But I have heard a great many things about you from the other ghosts- ones who hunt you, ones who despise you, ones who adore you. I recognized you the moment you entered the room. Your ghostly energy cannot be missed."

Horatio looked up from staring at the top of his desk. "Mari, are you sure he and I can save Ryan?"

"I'm not entirely sure. You must have a plan to get him back, Horatio. You and Phantom and the others can work together to save him."

Sam finally found her voice. "But you sound so sure."

Marisol glanced at the goth and nodded. "I know I do. It's because I have the two most dedicated and heroic people in this room that Miami and Amity Park have ever seen." She shook her head as Sam opened her mouth again. "I know what you're thinking, but I need for you to trust me. Phantom and Horatio can save the CSI from any future harm."

Before leaving, she suddenly floated over to Horatio and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. The lieutenant gave her a slight smile, watching her image disappear and looking at the hybrid and other two females that had just witnessed the whole thing. He looked out the window and sighed, fingering his sunglasses and keeping his head down once again. He sighed and glanced up at the trio, which had now turned into an entire team in his doorway. His voice was soft. "So… any ideas?"

Calleigh stepped out of the way in the doorway and folded her arms. "Well, maybe we could take a trip to Colorado and save him. All of us- we can save Ryan and arrest Plasmius in the process."

Sam Barrish nodded. "The DNA results just came back from the lab. Valera handed them to me, and the blood that came back from the scene was that of Vlad Masters _and_ Vlad Plasmius. He killed the innocent person."

Horatio glanced at Phantom, whom had his fist clenched. "He kidnapped Sam and Tucker during our vacation. I don't think I can repay you in any other way than getting rid of that fruit loop. There're a few things I want to say to him anyways."

"Well, not all of us can go," Alexx objected. "Some of us have to stay back here and make sure the lab stays in order for the next few hours."

"And we can't barge in like we're SWAT," Natalia interjected.

The lieutenant listened patiently as the team began to fire out suggestions. Tucker and Sam even got involved, giving their own knowledge of Plasmius and how they had faced him in the past alongside Danny. His mind began to whirl with the possibilities and such until finally, he held out a hand and closed his eyes. All talking ceased as the crowd looked at Horatio.

He took a deep breath. "I think Phantom, Sam, Tucker, Natalia, Eric, and myself should go. Sam and Tucker can help Ryan get back to Miami when we get him out of there, and Natalia and Eric can help alongside them, perhaps nursing Ryan after we all find him. Then Phantom and I can go after Plasmius."

Alexx blinked. "So, while you rescue Ryan, Calleigh and I can look after the lab with Sam and Yelina? What do you want us to do?"

"Keep Stetler off our tail," Horatio replied tersely. "Who knows what he'll do if he finds out we're gone."

Phantom morphed back in his human self and nodded. "So… when do you want to go?"

Sam glanced at Horatio. "Maybe today would be a good idea. Ryan looked to be in a lot of pain. We'd better leave right now."

Eric glanced at his teammates and took Natalia's hand. "Are you ready to go?"

"We're not together anymore, remember?" she teased back gently. "And you do realize this is a rescue mission, not a love affair."

He smirked. "I was kidding. Besides, we have to save one of my best friends."

Danny watched the two of them and looked at Sam, nodding to the outside. "Are we going to get right now, or do you really want to wait a bit longer?"

Tucker nodded. "Let's get to the Specter Speeder. We can save Ryan and maybe finish our vacation."

Horatio reached into his desk and grabbed the 9 millimeter Glock from inside, loading it with a full magazine and putting on the safety. He put it into the holster and nodded to the team he was going with- Natalia, Eric, Danny, Sam, and Tucker. He couldn't help but have a feeling of hope rise within him.

Maybe there really was a light in this time of darkness and despair…

* * *

**Pffft. I'm so cliché now. –eyeroll- Anyways, hope you enjoyed this installment, friends. Thanks for reading and waiting.**


	19. Saving Ryan

**Feel free to kick my butt for lack of updates. Finally realized how to finish this thing now. -slapped with dead fish-**

**Thanks for reviewing** Hordak's Pupil, Bored2Deth, princess moon shadow, Le Pecore Nere, FernClaw, Miriam1, theAlyCat, ImmortalPhantom22, AlexCurtis, inukagome15, Nicky-Pickle-25

* * *

19. Saving Ryan

It was tense in the vehicle as Sam took control of the wheel and uploaded the coordinates back to Vlad's mansion in Colorado. Danny sat in the back with the others as Horatio kept silent. Natalia and Eric glanced around the Specter Speeder and sighed in tandem, their hands interlaced with one another.

No one wanted to speak, for fear of breaking the tension being created.

Quietly, Danny moved to the front of the Speeder, cracking his fingers slightly and taking a deep breath. Horatio turned around and looked at him, a sort of strange glint in his eyes. The teenager couldn't determine whether it was hatred or anger or fear for his CSI. He opened his mouth to ask the question, but the lieutenant merely gave him a look.

Sam sat back in her own seat, sighing and glancing over at Danny, who once again moved back and looking at the weapons they had. She crossed her arms and swallowed slightly. "Listen, we're all worried about what happened," she told him quietly. "I know it's really something tense in here, but…"

"Something's wrong," Danny mumbled back, grabbing the Specter Deflector and looking down at it for a moment. "I don't get it. Why would Vlad kidnap a CSI? What business does he have with Ryan Wolfe?"

The Goth shrugged, coming up with no good explanation. She wasn't one for doing criminal investigations, like her friends, but even she couldn't argue with Danny's logic. It wasn't odd for Vlad to go after herself and Tucker, but to target Ryan for no apparent reason? Sam's mind tried to wrap around the idea as best as it could, but it came out in a jumbled sort of ball.

She furrowed her brow. "So we have no idea what to do now…"

The hybrid leaned up against the wall, looking at the ceiling. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Save Ryan, take him home, and allow the lab to patch him up, I guess," Sam told him softly. "There's nothing more we really can do after that. It's not like catching ghosts this time around. We have to save someone in the physical flesh." Her hand went on his shoulder. "We can do it, Danny. I promise."

The boy took the girl's hand and looked at her, nodding slowly. There was truth in her words. He allowed his shoulders to sag ever so slightly, putting the Deflector back on the shelf and pushing back his hair with his hand. His feet trudged him to the front of the flying machine again, seeing a large red dot come up on the map. His eyes looked out the window, narrowing in the process. "Looks like we got to Vlad's place a lot faster than I thought," he stated, feeling his blood beginning to simmer.

Horatio merely cocked his head and stared at the log cabin. "How much of that money did he rightfully earn, Danny?"

"Not so much as a cent."

"Thought so."

The CSI lieutenant checked to make sure he had a full magazine once more and holstered the weapon, standing up and fingering his pair of sunglasses. Eric and Natalia had arisen from their chairs as well, leaving an uncomfortable amount of space in the ship for anyone to attempt to move around. Tucker sat in the front seat with Sam, grimacing and holding his hand as best as he could. The girl looked in the front compartment for anything that could help him in the healing process.

The technology extraordinaire winced. "I feel really useless right now."

She smiled tiredly, finding a pillow under the seat finally and taking it out. Gently, she moved the teen's hand onto it and sighed, seeing a landing pad on top of the house empty. Gently as she could, Sam set down the Specter Speeder and pressed a button. The hatch opened, and four people jumped out of the vehicle- Horatio, Eric, Natalia, and a newly transformed Phantom.

Phantom tapped his ear. _'I'll have the Fenton Headset on,'_ he mouthed to the duo.

Sam nodded once and shooed him, giving the teen a worried smile. _'Be careful,'_ she mouthed back.

* * *

The door was open to the cabin, and the moment Horatio pushed it open, he could tell something was wrong. And it wasn't just in the sense of the heat the room was giving off. He had a bad feeling churning in the pit of his stomach. His finger rested gently on the trigger of his nine-millimeter Glock as he entered another room alone.

It was agreed that the group should split up and go off in search for Wolfe in any way they could. Phantom opted to stick with Natalia, knowing that she was probably more vulnerable to Plasmius's possible rampage than the others. The other two men steadily agreed to the notion. As the woman and the half-ghost quietly snuck down the hall, Natalia could practically _hear_ her heart beating. Her gun was in front of her, ready to shoot anything that floated.

There was a noise. She looked around and pointed her gun around the corner.

Eric gritted his teeth. "'Talia, it's me!"

She winced. "Sorry," she muttered.

Phantom closed his eyes for a moment and allowed Eric to cool down from his little scare before finally opening them and beckoning to the Cuban with his hand. "Come on. The three of us can try and find Ryan. Maybe Horatio can go for Vlad."

As if in silent agreement, the trio continued down the hallway, adrenaline pumping through their systems. Natalia glanced around warily, nodding her head in one door's direction. Phantom pushed it open quietly, wincing at the small creaks. His other hand glowed with green energy; he aimed it inside as it finished its turn. Both CSIs pointed their weapons inside the room and gave guarded glances at one another.

It was way too quiet in there.

Phantom moved forward some more before finally stopping at the end of the room. His hand shot over his mouth in disgust and fear. "Oh, my god…"

Eric and Natalia holstered their weapons, staring at the slumped figure in the tube. Ryan looked terrible. He had new scars, old wounds, and blood was now slowly dripping from his forehead. His eyes were closed, as if death had already taken him. A monitor on the wall next to him, however, proved otherwise. He was alive, but barely so.

Eric shook his head. "Wolfe…"

"We have to get him out of there!" Natalia whispered frantically.

Phantom's look of concentration intensified. "Working on it, working on it!"

Finally, the teenager's glowing hand slammed into the glass of the chamber. The shattering was enough to definitely make Vlad come running, but nothing happened after several tense seconds. Phantom let out a breath held for a long moment before finally kneeling down next to the man and scooping his arms underneath his body. Natalia winced as he lifted the body. "Please be careful with him."

He smiled genuinely and nodded. "I will. Promise."

"Oh, is that right?"

Phantom turned to the doorway and saw Plasmius standing there- or leaning in the doorway. His hand glowed bright magenta. "No one is leaving this room _alive,_" he growled angrily.

The teenager narrowed his eyes as Natalia and Eric whipped out their weapons. "Wanna bet, fruit loop?"

"It's _you_ who won't be getting out alive," a cool voice behind the bachelor chimed in.

Plasmius froze. He turned his head slightly and gave a cocky grin in Horatio's direction, who now stood behind him with a gun aimed for his head. "Remember, Horatio. I'm half ghost. You can't shoot me with your regular bullets. And with that… you won't make this much of a challenge at all, will you?"

"Get away from the door!" Eric growled.

The hybrid's hands flared as he suddenly whirled around and grabbed Horatio's Glock with one hand. Blood red stared into ice blue with hate. "You can't shoot me."

Horatio glared right back. "I will."

It was with this moment that the lieutenant gritted his teeth and yanked the weapon from his foe's fingers. An instant later, he ran down the hallway, and the bachelor seized the opportunity to chase him down. The hallway rained with red fire as he shot ghost rays in the CSI's direction, snarling all the while.

Phantom glanced at Natalia and Eric, jerking his head towards the ceiling. "The Specter Speeder is right over our heads, I think. I'm going to phase through the roof and get Ryan inside while Plasmius is distracted. Then I'll come back and grab you two."

Without another thought, the half-ghost turned intangible and flew through the ceiling. Three seconds later, he was on the rooftop to the cabin and making his way to the Specter Speeder as quickly as possible. Sam's eyes widened form the window as she opened the door once more. "That took you fifteen minutes!"

"Complain later. I have an almost-dead CSI here!"

The girl's jaw dropped. "_No._ Shoot, all right. There's a bed in the back apparently. I'll use it to lay him down and make sure we get him back."

Phantom nodded, stepping inside and allowing Sam to put down the bed. Tucker watched from the front, looking worried. "Damn. Is he going to be all right?"

"I dunno," Phantom admitted. "But I gotta go back for Eric and Natalia, okay? Gimmie two minutes."

When he had finally set down Ryan, the ghost teen turned intangible once more and phased through the roof. He saw Eric and Natalia still aiming their guns towards the door and took a deep breath, grabbing them both by the hands and phasing through the roof with them as well. He reached the rooftop in record time, turning visible with the two and pointing to the Specter Speeder. "Hurry up. Sam and Tucker can get you back to Miami with Ryan. I have to go help Horatio get rid of Vlad for a while."

Natalia blinked. "But…"

"Go! I'll be fine. It's not the first time I've faced Vlad with someone, and it won't be the last."

Eric took the female by the hand, pulling her to the vehicle. She nodded and ran inside, the door shutting behind her. Sam gave thumbs up to Phantom, wishing him good luck. He nodded and turned intangible once more.

Moments later, he landed on the floor inside the house once more and saw the ghost rays continue down the hall. Plasmius suddenly passed the room in a fury, his hands glowing. "Horatio, I know you're still here!" he shouted fiercely.

With this, he bolted down the hallway once more, not even noticing Danny in the other room with broken glass.

There was a sigh behind the teenager, and Horatio stepped out of the shadow, the gun still in hand. There was a sort of fiery twinkle in his eyes. "Let's stop a killer, Phantom."

The teen grinned, cracking his fingers and allowing his hands to alight with emerald energy. "After you, Horatio."

* * *

**So... I'm not going to promise anything but four more chapters left in this fic right now. Yep, it's ending soon. But hey- sequels are good, aren't they?**


	20. When the Dawn Rises

**Inspiration is really hard to come by these days. Is anyone even reading this thing, still?**

**Thanks for waiting and reviewing** FernClaw, AlexCurtis, princess moon shadow, Miriam1, alysandra sunsets, ImmortalPhantom22, Hordak's Pupil, inukagome15, icestriker, Nicky-Pickle-25, SumikaAmayaOblivion, dragon of spirits, Ebony Falcon, Farrahmack, Webster, tbsavafob

* * *

20. When the Dawn Rises

"They've been gone for a _long_ time," Calleigh muttered to herself, working fervantly on the computer and beginning to fill out a damage report from that afternoon's attack upon the lab. She glanced up from her screen and coughed, shaking her head in despair and feeling a pair of hands massage her back.

She crammed her neck to see who had gotten her before hearing a motherly voice reply, "Finish the report, Cal. I'll hold off that backache for a while longer."

She smiled softly to herself and shrugged, wincing with relief and letting out a nice "oooh" of happiness. "That feels nice. You think you could- yeah, _right there."_ Groaning and continuing her work, the ballistics expert typed more of the sentences on the page and smiled wearily. "I know this is a comfortable back massage and all, but I still can't help but worry about Ryan and the others. And the fact that Stetler's hovering over everyone like some lost puppy is _really_ annoying."

Alexx looked over her friend's shoulder. "I know that. But for now, put up with the Internal Affairs man and do your job. I wouldn't want you to get fired after being on the job for so long."

There was a loud rush of wind outside. The girls looked up from what they had been doing and gave each other stunned looks. It couldn't be, could it? Calleigh didn't dare have one hundred percent hope, but all the same, she couldn't help but bound up from her chair and move towards the elevator with lightning speed. Alexx followed right behind her, Sam Barrish also on her heels. The ballistics expert's finger mashed on the elevator button a moment later, and the three ladies anxiously waited for the doors to open.

The female computer technician watched the numbers count down and bit her lip. "You think it's them?" she wondered aloud.

No response. The doors opened and the three of them stood together, watching the doors shut and catching a flash of a man running across their view and making his way to the stairs. The ladies exchanged worried glances with one another before casting their eyes towards the numbers counting down.

* * *

"You think we should land in the parking lot?" Natalia asked, scratching her head and casting a look at Tucker, who was now fidgeting with the controls.

Sam got up from her seat and walked towards the back of the speeder, where a bloodied Ryan now sat up, leaning his head against a cushioned section of the vehicle and moaning. She sat down with Eric and his friends, running her fingers through her hair and shrugging. "If there are open spots anywhere, we're going to set this thing down there. I'm not exactly sure if Tucker or I know how parking rules apply to the city, but frankly, I don't think we could give a crap right now."

Eric smiled a little for the first time since they had gotten inside. "Just don't land on the Hummers," he joked.

She offered a tired laugh in return and turned to Ryan, who coughed harshly. Her hand went up to his chest, her voice becoming soft. "You should lie back down, Ryan."

"Hard to do that in this thing," he whispered back, giving the teenage Goth a wearied smirk and closing his eyes. "I'm just worried about Horatio and Phantom- knowing Plasmius, who knows what could happen?"

Tucker yelled in surprise suddenly and pointed ahead. "I see a spot!"

With as much grace as he could muster, which was hardly any at all, the technology geek set down the Specter Speeder and collapsed against the seat. It was in this moment that he yawned and fell over considerably, propping his feet upon the seat and attempting to make himself comfortable in a sleeping position. "I am _never_ flying this thing again," he moaned, yawning.

Sam rolled her eyes and walked towards the front again, opening the hatch to the outdoors and gesturing to the team. "After all of you," she told them, cocking her head. "After all, someone else needs to see if their friend is okay- I think."

Eric jumped out first, helping the wounded man down and allowing Natalia to take his hand and help him up as well. Sam glanced back at a sleeping Tucker before smiling to herself and jumping out after the other two. Her eyes widened with surprise, as did the crime scene investigators'. A mass mob of people seemed to be flowing out of the building, cheering ecstatically for the newly returned cop of Miami.

Sam blinked at the response. "Has this ever happened before?"

"Never," Natalia replied, giving her friend a worried glance and trying to push through the crowds as Ryan gave another sharp cough. "Although I can't say we've ever been hailed as heroes like this before."

"_RYAN!"_

A loud cry from the building was heard, and Calleigh bolted out into the masses, her shoes still inside. Alexx and Sam followed suit, trying to catch up to the blonde and failing to do so miserably. Everything seemed to be swallowed up in one big noise- screams, cheers, jeers, and other various sound effects portrayed the emotions rushing through everyone's body. The teenage Goth found herself grunting and groaning through the crowds, pushing her way through and making sure that her fellow allies could get a breath of air as well.

"Where the hell is Calleigh?" Natalia yelled over the din.

"Wish I knew!" Eric replied back before receiving a shoulder grabbed and was whirled around by someone he knew all too well. His face suddenly split into another smile. "_Calleigh!"_

She embraced not only Eric, but Ryan as well, her voice shaking. "You'd been gone for so long!"

Ryan gave a joking thumbs-up, coughing again. "Lost track of the days," he cracked, trying to keep his humorous side alive for as long as he could.

As if by some force of nature, the crowd suddenly began to part and grow silent as three people walked in their direction. Two were looking obviously relieved. One was trying to just clear space. That much was obvious as Stetler stood there, his hands jammed in his pockets once more and standing there with this peculiar look on his face. It wasn't disgust, but it wasn't exactly happiness either. He simply looked content, staring at the reunited team with an amused look in his eyes.

Eric glared long and hard into his eyes. "What is it, Stetler?"

"Nothing," he replied simply. "I just wanted you all to get some air before Wolfe passed out from lack of oxygen." He jerked a thumb back inside. "Get in there before I fire the entire county for not doing their jobs."

No one replied to his comment. Natalia nodded quickly and helped Eric carry Ryan up the stairs while Calleigh, Sam B, and Alexx followed close behind. The Goth stopped and glanced at the Internal Affairs agent with a sort of scrutinizing look. "Why did you do that? You don't like any of the investigators except Yelina! And even then…"

Stetler fidgeted quickly. "Who said I liked Detective Salas?"

"You've got that look a guy I know has every time I see him," she replied coolly.

Silence for a moment. The man stared at her for a few long seconds before finally breaking out into a bitter smile. Inside, the team of CSIs were laughing and enjoying each other's company. They moved towards the medical office, but Alexx already began to examine her broken comrade from head to toe on their way to the elevator. Stetler finally sighed and gave Sam a reluctant nod. "Yeah, I love Yelina and all, and I know it's out of spite because I hate Horatio and his former daughter-in-law together and all…"

The Goth shrugged. "But why part the waters for them? Why make the others move? I thought you would have rather had them suffocate amidst sweat unless I shouted at them or something"

"Because it's what Horatio would've done if he was here," he admitted.

Sam finally smiled at this remark and nodded. Inside, though, her thoughts raced with fear.

'_Danny- please make it home with Horatio alive.'

* * *

_

**And end chapter here. I think I finally have enough stuff to finish this thing off, thank god. I HATED this chapter- it was a pain in the arse to write. I can't lie about that. And… *brick'd* Yep. Is anyone even reading this thing still…?**


	21. Truths, Treasures, and Trials

…**hated writing this chapter because I realized my mind broke on this fic. And now I have shattered pieces strewn everywhere. Oh well. Enjoy what you can out of this.**

**Thanks for reviewing** princess moon shadow, tbsavafob, ruelle d'aly, Bored2Deth, Hordak's Pupil, Crazy Joe, ImmortalPhantom22, Miriam1

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21. Truths, Treasures, and Trials

"Gotta make everything really difficult, doesn't he?" Phantom growled to himself, his hands alight with emerald energy as he floated alongside the lieutenant. "Invisibility, wicked grudges, and anything but the kitchen sink."

Horatio smiled for a split moment, hugging the corner of a wall and glancing around into another room. He motioned to the teenage hero to come inside and look around, his own face portraying utter disbelief. He lowered his weapon and took a full three hundred sixty degree turnaround to see what had really happened. His partner blinked and watched the lieutenant's gaze, shaking his head as Horatio walked over to the table with chemicals and other various substances. "What the hell was he doing in here?" he wondered, snapping on a glove and picking up a glass filled with ectoplasm.

The half-ghost floated over to a stack of papers on the other end of the room and landed, picking them up and hearing a distinct crash somewhere in the building. Ignoring it and swallowing, he flipped through the scientific speak and stared at the numbers and back at Horatio, his voice quaking. "I think I figure out what Vlad was doing, Lieutenant." He waved one of the packages of notes in the air and motioned him over. "He was trying to create ghost and human crosses with nothing but a serum."

The crime scene investigator looked over Phantom's shoulder and cocked his head, turning back to the teen and stepping around the table to look at the liquids he had concocted. Greens, blues, yellows, and many other colors were strewn on it. He picked one up and saw the bubbles, pursing his lips and appearing thoughtful. "But what was the reason, Phantom? He couldn't have just been doing it for his own selfish purposes, right?"

"To invoke revenge? Vlad loves to get back at people who did stuff to him in the past." The teenager sighed and set down the papers, shaking his head with disbelief. "Why he wanted Ryan, though, is the big question. Did he have some grudge on you or something along those lines? I mean, there isn't a reason for him taking the guy without a purpose, you know?" Phantom studied Horatio's wearied features. "What did he do?"

The lieutenant looked down at the floor for a moment, voice bitter. "It's complicated." He then looked back up at Phantom. "College- he went to Florida State University. Did some things that weren't exactly in line with the code of conduct. And I found him doing illegal experiments one day that involved ghosts. He told me not to tell anyone and bribed me. I didn't take it, and… he got kicked out after I told the school officials about it all. I heard he was off to Wisconsin after that."

Phantom held the serum he had picked up in one hand and glanced at Horatio. "Well, that could explain a lot, to be honest." He glanced back down at it and slowly, realization dawned on his features. "Ryan was going to be his first test subject, and he didn't even know the full extent of what it could do. If it would kill, destroy, infect, mutate- Plasmius didn't have anyone to use it on, and he followed me to Miami to…" The teen looked down at the medicine. "We may never really know the answer."

Horatio held out his hand, and Phantom cautiously placed it into his grasp. "Evidence for later. Is there another one there?"

"Yeah. Why?"

The lieutenant smiled. "Someone needs to test it out at the right time."

The teenager shook his head. "You could die!"

"I've been waiting for death to take me for a while, Danny. Another brush with it won't kill me."

As Horatio slipped one serum into his pocket and another one into his hand- thanks to a reluctant half ghost- the duo exited the room and looked around the corner, not noticing… "_There you are!"_

The team of heroes flicked their heads in the opposite direction and it was the ghost teen that swallowed. Plasmius was giving them the evilest of stares, and it was in the right of mind that Horatio and Phantom bolted in the opposite direction of the raging billionaire. Horatio growled and cocked his weapon. "I want to know if he killed that child a few days ago. And if he did, that could land him in prison for a couple of years."

"Right now would definitely not be the best of times to do that." The teen turned around and fired a ghost ray in the other man's direction. "You run, I'll hold him off." He had a sort of cocky grin on his face. "When he's mad, he becomes a bit more… crazier than normal. Take the serum somewhere, and if he's got you cornered- well, I don't know what to say from there." His hands placed a shield in front of them, nodding to Horatio and racing towards Plasmius.

* * *

The lieutenant ducked behind a wall and began to run to the other side of the hall area, his weapon still cocked. Something was obviously wrong about all of this. Surely Vlad would have had a ton of guards all around the place, but… no one was around. No weird glowing figures, no stupid guys wandering around shooting stuff- none of it was there unless he had something really wicked planned. Horatio hugged the wall and looked out before pointing his weapon out and letting out a deep breath. _'I'm not liking this,'_ he thought grimly, carefully moving down the hall.

There was a muffled _THUD,_ followed by more sounds of blows being traded. The red head growled and moved slightly quicker down the hall, peering in each room for any signs of ghosts or other various items of who knew what lying around in the billionaire's house. For all Horatio knew, he could have very well kept a room full of other unknown experiments used on people in there. He quietly edged down the rest of the corridor, never shaking and always vigilant. Was this how Phantom had to be every time he faced his foe?

The sound of body hitting wall forced Horatio to take a deep breath and turn the corner again with swift, nearly inhuman speed. He stood there, seeing Phantom shoot another ghost ray and growl angrily at the foe in front of him. Horatio lowered the weapon and took a deep breath, taking out the serum. _"You could die!"_ the teen's words echoed in his mind, sounding desperate. He gripped the vial in his hand and winced when he looked up and saw Vlad nail him right in the stomach with a ghost ray.

Without a second thought, Horatio stabbed the serum into his arm and injected the ectoplasm into his blood. The effect was immediately. He felt as if he had been shocked into total nothingness, the pain searing everywhere. The lieutenant dropped to one knee and gasped, gritting his teeth and holding his side with the serum vial. The fire seemed to take over him, and the lieutenant couldn't help but gasp immediately with pain. Phantom took a quick glance at Horatio before staring at him head-on. "W-what did you do?!"

"Sacrifices… gotta be made… sometimes…" Horatio grunted between gasps of pain. "You should know that… better than all of us!"

Before Phantom could offer a well-placed comeback, Plasmius slammed his fist into the teen's stomach in the form of a sort of thrusting punch that sent him flying into the next room. Horatio growled and held his side still, closing his eyes and feeling a sort of cold sensation rush through his body. He looked down at his hand- only to see it wasn't there. His other hand was lowing with a sort of bluish aura, and it was right then that the lieutenant knew he had pretty much turned into a temporary half ghost… however the hell that was actually possible.

Plasmius smirked at the teenager in the other room. "Poor performance ind-"

_WHAM._ The billionaire suddenly found himself careening with the logs and spluttering to himself only to look up and see Horatio pointing a hand at him with glowing energy. Phantom floated out from his own collision and rubbed his head to see him… well, nearly deformed. With one hand invisible, another flaring with sky-blue energy, and no seeming change in his appearance, it was a wonder that the lieutenant was standing on both feet. "Horatio?"

"I blame the serum," he grunted, his hand lowering and watching Plasmius warily. "Not you."

Plasmius stumbled to his feet, shaking his head and staring at the new hybrid in front of him. There was a sort of euphoric rush that soared through his blood, allowing his lips to curl into a tight smile. "Looks like it worked- the medicine, I mean. My first real test subject still standing and alive with new powers he can control with odd ease! This… this give me more than enough data I need to complete it and…"

Horatio found Phantom at his side within a few moments. His voice choked slightly. "You are not getting away with this, Vlad. We could reveal you to the whole world right now for the fake you really are." His eyes flashed. "We could give the motive for killing that kid in Florida. Unless you have one that you would be so inclined to share the real reason behind it."

For a split moment, the billionaire allowed fear to creep into his gaze. "You _wouldn't."_

"I can do it right now," he growled. "Killing innocent children for your own twisted experiments? I'm pretty sure the business world wouldn't like they discovered one of their major business partners was doing illegal things with human beings. Would they?"

Plasmius snarled inhumanly. "You do any such thing, I swear I will show some of your dark secrets of the past- killing your father, going to Brazil without a referral from the county… I can look all of it up and have you fired in a heartbeat, Caine!"

Horatio allowed a ghost of a smile to appear on his lips. "You'd love to do that, wouldn't you? Unfortunately for you, that won't happen." His hand flared slightly. "Go ahead and try it. I'm sure a lot of people would love to hear about your exploits. It's only a fair trade, Vlad." He shot a ghost ray at the killer, which connected with his chest, and fell back on one knee, Phantom giving him support and making sure he didn't hit the floor. "Your move."

"You're a very tricky one, Horatio." The billionaire smirked grimly. "Fine. I killed the girl- she could have become an experiment, my first test subject of the medicine. But it was too strong. She ended up dying because of her young age. Tried to revive her, but alas… all that remained was a single handprint."

Phantom clenched his teeth. It was disgusting. Plasmius had turned into a monster. A disgusting, despicable man whose sole purpose was to only make money on the market. At least he was out of the damn picture now. "You killed her with your own dirty hands!"

Plasmius looked plainly smug. "That much is very true."

Horatio now had an arm on Phantom. His eyes flashed green for a split second, warning the teen to not try and do anything foolish. He glanced back at Plasmius, growling lowly. "We pretty much got everything we needed here. But since I can't arrest you on the grounds of being with Miami and you're all the way here in Denver…" He stood up painfully, shaking his head and gripping his weapon. "Just know this, you son of a bitch- you do it again and you're still in Miami, it'll be your last day enjoying the sun's rays."

Phantom couldn't believe this was happening. "You're letting him get off?!"

"I can't do anything about it," Horatio quietly admitted. "He's not in our district. I'm as mad as you, Danny. Know that." His hand reappeared suddenly, his breathing slowing. "Let's go."

Plasmius tried to stand from the rubble, but Phantom shot him another ghost ray, knocking him flat and into a state of unconsciousness. He looked down at it and sighed for a moment. "These powers can be good and be really bad."

"It all depends on how you look at the situation, Phantom," Horatio reminded wearily. "For you, it's for good. Plasmius, it's for evils unknown to all."

Phantom blinked. "And you?"

Horatio could offer no answer as he held out his hand to the ghost teen. "I'll tell you when I take those antibodies that get rid of them."

* * *

**Inspired by "Colin Hopes Link will Save Them" from the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess OST and "Deep Ambitions" from the Resident Evil 5 OST.**

**That was a pain to write. Just **_**looking**_** at this fic is painful now. All the errors, horrible mistakes, and stupid author cracks are… god, I think they're OOC too. I've only got two chapters left of this thing, so just hang on a little longer. We're almost home, guys. Promise.**


	22. Epilogue: Lines of Light and Dark

…**I don't care. This is two chapters in one. It's got loose ends. I wanted to make a sequel to this fic in the future. I'm going to have to plan it drastically and keep to the plot because this one went from cool to SUCK. Can't lie, guys. I'm glad this fic is friggin' OVER. Let's just finish this. I don't really give a flying crap anymore. It's rushed. Done. BUH-BYE.**

**Thanks for reviewing** tbsavafob, Hordak's Pupil, HoratioCraver101, princess moon shadow, thealycat., FernClaw

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22. Epilogue: Lines of Light and Dark

"This should do it," Alexx mumbled, taking hold on the syringe and piercing Horatio's arm with it while finding a vein. "There's enough in here for you to probably get a full dose of what could turn a ghost back into a human- or something like that." She injected it into his body, shaking her head and chuckling. "Those notes of Plasmius's didn't take long to read really. It was just full of scientific things that needed a bit of help from another scientist."

Danny anxiously watched the man wince and take a deep breath while clenching up. "Who did you go and see, Alexx?"

The medical examiner chuckled a little and took out the needle, setting it down and applying a cotton swab to where she had punctured. "Mister Wolfe himself. He knew a little bit more about this sort of thing than I did. After all, he was the one kidnapped by that crazy ghost himself, so I figured he'd have a better chance at actually knowing about such things."

Horatio didn't say anything, merely smiling a little as Alexx applied a bandage to the wound and he standing up slowly to leave the room. Danny watched the lieutenant, tilting his head. "Yeah," he muttered distantly. "What's up with Horatio and everything?"

Alexx sighed. They had been back for three hours, and still Horatio had been silent about the entire ordeal with Plasmius and Phantom. "He's hiding something he doesn't want the world to see," she told the teenager gently, chuckling a little. "It's a little quirk of his and everything. You get used to it, and then you will never get used to it." She looked up, seeing Ryan outside talking with Sam and hugging her- which she didn't seem to mind.

"So- what are you guys going to do about Plasmius?" he asked, trying to divert the subject and looked outside at the CSI and the Goth embracing.

She shook her head as she and Danny left the room as well. "Not sure. We'll figure something out for certain."

Sam turned to Danny, grinning a little before running over to him and hugging him tightly. He hugged her right back, stroking her hair and kissing her cheek. She blushed insanely, looking at him and tilting her head. The hero grinned a little. "What do you say we go home, Sam?" he muttered. "We've been around the country enough for one vacation."

She smirked a little and nodded towards Natalia. "You gotta say bye to her first. Seems like you two have something going on there."

"That's not exactly right," he muttered. "It's just a friendship."

Sam and Alexx laughed in agreement with his statement, but they allowed him to go and see her in peace anyways. The teenager gave Ryan one last smile before running towards the elevator and Tucker, who was still in a bit of a sling. He winced a little at Sam's smirk and shook his head. "All I want is my technology at home," he told her matter-of-factly. "That stuff isn't the stuff that gets us into these types of things."

Sam laughed. "No kidding. You can stay home and play video games for the rest of the break."

"Or what's left of it," he grumbled, getting a chuckle out of his best friend.

* * *

Horatio had his hands on his hips as he glanced at Danny approaching him. Natalia sat in the car, chuckling a little and leaning back. Two heroes together for one more time. The Specter Speeder floated behind her, ready to take the teenager home with the others. Sam sat in the front seat, watching and waiting for her cue from Danny. Whatever the hell that cue was from him.

Below them, a scene was unfolding that could've been pulled from a movie.

"So then what does that make you?" Danny asked bluntly, watching the lieutenant's gaze pierce his own. "If you're not a hero or a villain, then what else can you be?"

The redhead sighed, shaking his head. "The gray area. I'm the antihero. I don't play by the rules at times when they are needed, Danny." His arm hurt. It throbbed, his whole limb shaking a little. He couldn't stop it, but who cared. Something always hurt; his head, his body, his heart. Pain was something the man was used to now.

The hero himself blinked a little. An antihero- he hadn't thought of it like that before. He shrugged a little, nodding and chuckling for a moment. "I guess so. But have you ever-"

Horatio gazed at him. "I killed my father, who murdered my mother. I slay my wife's predator. And I have murdered more people than you could ever imagine." His eyes were stormy. "I'm supposed to be Catholic, Danny. And for all I know, I'm going to Hell for the number of sins I have committed."

Coming from a man who rarely spoke to him- maybe twice the entire time he was there- this was something a lot deeper of a good bye than he certainly had ever planned to give. Danny tilted his head again and rubbed the back of it. "I'm not really religious or anything, but I know that I know my sense of right and wrong is a straight line. There's a line you can cross, but you can't really walk on it. But hey- I've been proven wrong more times than I can count."

"So what are you saying? That I proved you wrong?"

The kid grinned cheekily. "Something like that."

"_Danny!"_ Sam was waving from the Spectre Speeder now, smiling a little. "We gotta get home! It's gonna be a few hours!"

Danny waved to them and turned to Horatio, folding his arms and morphing into Phantom in front of him and Natalia in the Hummer. "So I guess this is good bye, huh?"

The lieutenant nodded steadily. "If you ever need anything from another source that has nothing to do with your city, Danny, call me. Email us. We'll come by and visit your city if we have to."

He blinked. "Really?"

"It's a promise," Horatio assured the teenager, nodding and slipping on his sunglasses. "Now go. You've got friends waiting for you."

Phantom smiled and nodded, giving the lieutenant a thumb up before flying up towards the speeder and slipping inside the cockpit with Tucker and Sam. He waved to the redhead before the vehicle sped towards the northern rural section of the city and away from the older man on the beach. Horatio looked down and out at the water. The gray line between good and evil- he tread it so carefully and yet he was a reckless pursuer in entering and exiting that light.

On one side, there was that nasty darkness he threatened to embrace every day he was alive. That side of Plasmius, the one who had a bit of a downhill spiral- more of one that he anticipated.

But on the other side, there was a light that Phantom seemed to radiate. He loved to protect people, blamed himself when he didn't and couldn't.

A certain sunshine that glazed over the darkness. Phantom sunshine… so beautiful, and yet so horrifying.

* * *

**Final chapter composed to **"Now We Are Free" **by **Lisa Gerrard. **How appropriate.**

**Well, all's well that ends… messed up as hell. Hmm. Sequels because of open-ended bullcrap anyone? SAY YES. I'M BEGGING YOU. I need new material! *sadface***

**So then… thanks for reviewing this entire story…** SethTkun, StoryDreamer, Taccuino, Shadewolf7, Choco(dot)Sushi(dot)Nut, Sora Hane, Long Slow Collision, shelby, CSIBeauty, Miriam1, pearl84, Le Pecore Nere, Bored2Deth, Nicky-Pickle-25, SumikaAmayaOblivion, Farrahmack, Webster, YoungbloodFan, Out-Of-Control-Authoress, babydragon11, kingdomhearts222, Lady-Bloodrose, Little Laurentum Light, RENT Head – A Guardian Angel, WinchesterPhantom, Hordak's Pupil, Plushiemon, princess moon shadow, NC Phantom, Em Phantom, Pterodactyl, Quacked Lurker, mystery writer5775, Jodine16, Shade rose, fairyprincesst, yumi2482, Yhunderstorm101, ImmortalPhantom22, queendragonfire, Jag Lady, Billie Jukes, thealycat., Silver Shadowbreeze, cabot007, GeekGirl2, FernClaw, Me-against-the-world, inukagome15, lily moonlight, valenciadarkness, AlexCurtis, icestriker, dragon of spirits, Ebony Falcon, tbsavafob, Crazy Joe, HoratioCraver101

**For all the faves… (all 34 of you guys.)**

**And ALL the alerts… (all 50 of you. FIFTY. I'm about dead over here.)**

…**and for all the countless times I've said I'd update and never came through until so many months later. I can't give any of you enough credit for anything you ever did. PLEASE accept my humblest apologies. I started this in sophomore year of high school- the end of tenth grade- and I finished it AFTER high school. How horrid of me.**

**Well, I'm done guys… with a sequel slowly being planned out. Look out, Miami and Amity- I ain't QUITE done with you guys yet. *smirks a bit***

**Love always and forever,**

**Shiny-sama**


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